Here Without You
by BabemRoze
Summary: As Rinoa's birthday is approaching, Leon begins to become angrier and less-sociable. Until one day an unknown figure appears and Leon is thrown into a world of emotions and turmoil. The mystery of Rinoa's disappearance is revieled! Trilogy No.: 1/3
1. Chapter 1

**March 2nd**

"_I'm fine, just need to rest a bit!"_

"_Leave; It's me they want and you know it!" _

"_You'll die if you don't go now, the portal's about to close!"_

"_No, you have to leave me here. They'll just keep on following you,"_

"_I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you die because of me," _

"_SQUALL!!"_

Leon awoke with a start. His sheets were drenched in sweat and his heart was pounding in his chest. He still heard her screams inside his head. He let it fall in his hands. Glancing at the window he could see the sun was about to rise. Shifting out from under the covers he walked to the bathroom and splashed his face with water.

_Stop it! Stop thinking about her it's been over two years! I'm home now and…_

"No," he said aloud. He wasn't home. Home was the place she would be waiting for him with a smile and on lucky days a tray of cookies and treats. Home was a place they spent their most passionate evenings together. Home was a place where they walked the streets without fear but home was also a place where he saw the love of his life disappear before his eyes.

Running the water for a while, Leon picked up a glass and let it fill up. Gulping the drink down it soothed his tender throat. Every day he awoke with the same dream. Sometimes worse then others but they always reminded him of what he had lost.

He clenched his face and the last of the water ran down the inside of his neck. He looked over to the bookcase to see a framed picture, he hadn't put it there but he knew exactly what it was and when it was taken. He didn't want to be reminded everyday of his mistakes. Throwing the glass against floor he let it smash into pieces. He picked up the picture and without even looking at it he stormed out of the hotel room and across the hall.

He banged loudly on the door,

"Aerith!" His knocks grew louder and louder "Aerith open this fucking door!"

Slowly the door opened to see a sleepy eyed Aerith.

"Yes, Leo…" She stopped as he threw the picture at her.

"Why was this in my room?!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Yuffie came out of her room looking angry

"Leon, I found it and thought you'd want to have it," Aerith said calmly ignoring Yuffie's question.

"I don't want anything from that place! That's why I've stayed away!"

"No, Leon, you've stayed away because you're scared of remembering," Aerith continued to be her calm self.

"If you want to restore Radiant Garden then you'll have to start there first. Everything needs to be fixed and cleaned-up," Yuffie decided to enter the conversation.

"That place will always be broken," Leon said rather quietly

"No it won't. You can fix it and one day you won't be scared to remember her-"

"Don't say _her! _She has a name!"

"What is it?"

He turned his face away. He eventually said the name that had been screaming to escape his lips for a year.

"Rinoa…Rinoa Heartilly,"

"No, Squall," Aerith watched him flinched as he heard his true name "Say her real name,"

_Why is she doing this to me? _He sighed heavily.

"Rinoa…Leonhart," And then he stormed back into his room.

"That was a bit harsh Aerith,"

"He needs to remember, I just hope one day he can go back to his house,"

* * *

He sat on his bed as the anger rose within him. Looking over to the bedside cabinet he opened the draw and glanced at a note.

"_I'm Okay"_

The words screamed at him. Was it from her? He wished to Hyne it was. There was no address or contact number so he didn't know. Not even a name at the end; just those two simple words. Simple…but they could be so, so much.

It all got too much for him; hastily he changed into his everyday clothes and after grabbing his gunblade left the hotel. Every Heartless he saw he destroyed. He would never let one of those things survive.

His walked over to the Bailey and leant against the wall. After Sora's help most of the heartless swarming around the castle had gone but there were still a few that tried to reproduce (if that were even possible).

He sat on the wall and sighed. He kept staring at the castle,

_You're the reason we've suffered so much pain _he thought

He closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair. When he opened them he saw something small and light fly toward him. Reaching his gloved hand up, he caught a white feather. Inspecting it closely he saw it almost glistened with a heavenly aura. His eyes shot wide open and he kept looking back and forth from feather to castle.

_Rinoa? _

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind; there was no way, surely. But he found himself putting the feather in his trouser pocket. The sun had now risen and all of Radiant Garden was lit. He could hear the shops open and children started playing. Although he felt like he hadn't been there long, time disagreed and told him he'd been outside for at least a few hours.

Picking himself up he started to walk over to Merlin's house. Nearly every morning, the "Restoration Committee" had a meeting on progress and the days work. What was once called the "_Hollow Bastion_ Restoration Committee" was now the "_Radiant Garden_ Restoration Committee".

"What a bugger to change the cards, _and_ they were laminated," he said aloud. But he knew that wasn't the only reason he disliked the name. It was because he only saw it as Radiant Garden when there was something radiant in it. His light had been taken and his world would always remain as hollow.

Entering Merlin's house, everyone greeted him with a good morning which he just nodded in reply to. For a couple of moments they sat in silence. He knew he would have to be the one to break it.

"Any updates?"

Everyone eyed each other until finally Aerith volunteered.

"Every house has been restored and cleaned and the residents can move back in. The only one that isn't sorted it yours…" she paused "But aside from that the Marketplace and Village are complete,"

Leon had ignored her last remark. He knew that if Radiant Garden were to be fully completed then he would need to enter his old house.

"Anything el-"

Everyone turned their heads as they heard a knock at the door. His heart started racing but denied himself any true hope. Yuffie bounced over and opened the door quickly. A smile burst on her face,

"Hey Sora!"

Sora smiled and waved as he walked into the house followed by Donald, Goofy, Riku and a red-headed girl Leon didn't recognise but he was certain he knew who she was.

He watched as everyone greeted them and asked about the girl.

"This is my friend, Kairi. You know the one I was looking for? Well, I found her and Riku! So we're all together again!" He flashed a cheesy grin whilst everyone "Yay'd" and clapped.

Leon closed his eyes.

_It's not fair…_

"Wakey, wakey Leon!" Rikku flew in front of his face "No time to be sleeping!"

"Whatever," he said gruffly and stormed out of the house.

"Gawrsh, is he okay?" Goofy asked looking worried

"Actually the more he's in Radiant Garden the worse he's getting and I'm sorry to say this but I think seeing Kairi and Riku didn't help anything," Merlin explained

"What did they do?" Sora gestured to his friends slightly angered.

"Nothing it's just…" Aerith paused "It just reminds him of something he lost…a long time ago. Unlike you he hasn't managed to get it back,"

"Who was it?" Kairi hesitantly asked

"I don' think it's our place ta say," Cid spun on his computer chair to face the girl

"I'm gonna go see if he's okay," Sora headed toward the door "Any clue where he is?"

"Go to the Marketplace and up the stairs near the far end. There's a house, try in there," Cloud said as he entered the room "I just saw him,"

"He's done it!" Yuffie jumped up and down "He's finally gone back!"

Sora shrugged and went to find him.


	2. Chapter 2

Leon shook as his hand reached toward the doorknob. Holding his breath he twisted it round and opened the large, wooden door. He let out a small gasp as he saw the place a mess and most of the furniture broken. Glass had been smashed everywhere and dust had settled upon everything. Leaving the door open he walked in dazed. His eyes started stinging. He pushed his way through cobwebs and reached the bedroom. He looked down as his foot stepped on something soft and floppy. Bending down he picked up the stuffed animal.

"Mr Wuggles," he whispered

* * *

"_What's that?" Squall asked _

"_He__, is Mr Wuggles," He watched as Rinoa caressed the rabbits soft head _

"_Wuggles?" He smirked slightly trying to hold back the laughter_

"_Yes, Wuggles. He's my most prized possession…except the necklace of course," she held onto the rings with her free hand "He goes everywhere with me," _

"_And yet this is the first time I've seen him," Squall crossed his arms and leant against the wall_

"_Well he was in my pocket during the whole "Ultimecia" thing. I didn't want to let her see," _

"_I think he could've helped," _

"_Really?" Rinoa asked sarcastically_

"_Yeah, we could have showed Ultimecia and gone 'If you don't surrender we'll set the bunny on you'. I'm sure she would've coward in fear,"_

_Rinoa hit him playfully. _

"_You know? All that sarcasm hurts Mr Wuggles feeling. He needs a kiss," she started holding the rabbit out in front of her_

"_No, I refuse," _

"_Awww c'mon Squall, give him a kiss,"_

"_No way!" _

"_Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him," _

"_No, No, NO!" _

"_Just kiss the damn rabbit…!!" _

_Her voice trailed off._

_* * *_

Leon held the small rabbit in one hand and gentle kissed the top of his head. Slowly he looked around the small room. Walking over to the dresser he saw Polaroid's spread around the mirror. Each one reminded him of a different memory. Looking away he sat on the bed. Somehow it had been preserved aside from the dust. He coughed as a huge cloud filled the air. Aside from the mess everything was exactly how it was the day disaster struck. Ignoring the dust particles going up his nose, he laid flatly on the bed; his head resting on the pillow. Fidgeting to get comfy he kept feeling the corner of something hard jab into his neck. Lifting up the pillow he saw a box, it had "Squall" in cursive on the front. Taking it from its resting place he slowly opened it. Moving some white tissue paper he saw a large photo album with "Precious Memories" printed on the front.

Going against his better judgment he lifted the book out and opened it. The first picture made his eyes sting once more.

It was of him and Rinoa. It was taken just after their first kiss on the balcony. Both of them were shocked to see Irvine watching them with a video camera and then Selphie snapped a picture. They were both holding onto each other facing the camera with scared and embarrassed looks on their faces. Leon noticed he was the reddest.

He smiled slightly at the memory. Turning the page he saw a picture of the same event, they were standing in the same positions but this time they were kissing.

* * *

"_Irvine put the camera away!" Rinoa hid her face in Squall's chest _

"_Hey, I'm just waiting in line!" Irvine laughed winking at her _

"_Please let me get another picture of you two," Selphie pleaded whilst jumping on the spot "that one's gonna come out funny, you both moved too quickly!"_

"_Selph, I don't think that would be a good ide-" Rinoa was cut off as Squall's lips touched hers. She felt him move his hand quickly as if to say "now!" _

_Rinoa saw the flash of the camera and reluctantly pulled away. She bit her bottom lip, giggling whilst turning away in bashfulness. _

"_Cute!" Selphie shouted squealing _

"_I know you are," Irvine winked._

_Selphie sighed and pulled him away from the balcony. Squall turned toward Rinoa. _

"_I guess we'll have to deal with that a lot huh?" he asked_

"_Maybe, its not everyday Squall Leonhart gets a girlfriend," _

"_How would you know?" he joked _

_Rinoa turned away and pretended to pout. She felt his arms go slowly around her waist_

"_You're gonna be my first for everything…and my last," _

_He could tell the words caught her off guard. She let a tear of happiness escape. It was so unlike him. She turned back to face him and once again they shared a kiss. _

* * *

This time the memory pained him so much he had to close the album. But he didn't let go of it. He clutched onto it, along with Mr Wuggles.

"Leon!" Sora's voice disturbed his thoughts "Are you here?!"

Slowly Leon walked over to the bedroom door and saw Sora eyeing the house suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" he said in his emotionless tone

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," Sora continued looking around the room, his eyes came across a picture but just as he was about to pick it up Leon stopped him.

"I'm fine but I would appreciate it if you left me alone,"

"Well, Aerith said you could've been upset coz of Kairi. She said you'd lost something so I thought if you wanted…we could…talk,"

Leon was getting madder and madder. Why couldn't anyone keep to their own business?!

"So you're not going to leave me alone?"

"Nope," Sora did another cheesy grin

"Fine, then I'll leave. You'll find all the answers among these walls if not ask the others," And for the third time that day he stormed away.

Sora was left dumb-founded. He hadn't expected that but he accepted his words. Slowly he picked up the picture he'd been eyeing a couple of minutes ago. His mouth fell open at what he saw.

Leon was standing with his arms wrapped around a girl from behind and his chin resting on her shoulder. She had black hair which was highlighted with caramel streaks. He could only see their upper halves and from what he could tell she was wearing some sort of bathing suit. Around her neck was a silver chain with two rings on it. He eyed the rings carefully and noticed one of them had Leon's trademark symbol on and the other was a plain wedding band. He looked over to Leon who was smiling, which for Sora was the first time he had seen him looking…happy. Behind them he could see the beach and the hot sun beating down on them. He turned to the back of the picture and with the date he worked out Leon's age. When this picture was taken he was 21 years old. It had been four years since. Putting down the picture he walked into the bedroom. He saw the empty box on the bed but ignored it. For at the end of the bed was a large chest. Pushing down on the fastening it opened releasing dust into the air.

Inside were various amounts of objects. He lifted up a wad of newspaper articles and the first one was dated 8 years before. The newspaper was from a place called "Balamb", he made a mental note to ask about such a place later. He read the headline,

"_ULTIMECIA DEFEATED BY SIX TEENAGED HEROES!" _

Slowly he started to read the main article,

"_Two days ago the world had received the confirmation that Ultimecia, the evil sorceress from the future has been defeated. Time compression is definitely over and the world should no longer live in fear. Thanks to SeeD our cities are now safe._

_The armies and even Garden were surprised that six mere teenagers could defeat such a powerful enemy,_

'_From what we could tell, Ultimecia was so power that she had killed numerous amounts of SeeD's in the future. Surely in the future we should be becoming stronger so it is impossible to tell how they succeeded' General Caraway told us 'although I am very proud of my daughter, Rinoa, who fought alongside the SeeDs. Some might say she's a chip of the old block!' _

_After they had defeated Ultimecia the teens had all been separated in her world. Once time compression stopped four of them were found together on a beach near Winhill. But it wasn't until the next day that the two remaining heroes, Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly, were found in a flower field in Centra. Squall, who had just been named Commander of SeeD, had been found by Rinoa and she had watched over him during the night. They both suffered from exhaustion and are now recovering in Balamb Garden's infirmary. _

'_They were the true heroes' Zell Dincht, one of the heroes, told us 'they tried the hardest out of all of us. When we found them in the field they were both asleep and we thought they were dead. If it hadn't been for Rinoa's dog, Angelo, we would have believed they were until she ran over to them barking causing them to wake up' _

_A celebration party will be held in Balamb Garden as soon as each teens have recovered fully. Although outsiders are not permitted to enter the whole world will be celebrating alongside of them. Each and every person has applauded them and thanked the heroes of the world…Squall Leonhart, Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, Rinoa Heartilly, Selphie Tilmitt and Irvine Kinneas,"_

Sora stopped reading.

_Leon's really called Squall Leonhart? I do remember Jiminy telling me about that…wait! WHAT?!_

"Selphie Tilmitt?!" He turned the page of the newspaper to look at a photo. There in black and white was an older looking version of his friend from Destiny Island "No way!"

Quickly he snapped up the paper and ran back to Merlin's house.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kairi! Riku!" Sora was out of breath from running too fast "Look!"

He showed them the newspaper article.

"That's Selphie!" Kairi yelled grabbing the paper "She looks about 2 years older but it's certainly her,"

"What's wrong Sora?" Donald asked in his usual quaky voice

"Aerith, we know this girl!" He pointed quickly to Selphie's picture "But she's only 16. She's never mentioned anything about this to us. Can it be the same person?"

Aerith walked over and examined the paper.

"This picture was taken 8 years ago in Leon's old world. But when Radiant Garden was invaded he lost all of his friends and by then they were our friends too. He doesn't know what happened to any of them. But I do remember Selphie went into a different escape portal to us so it's possible that she could have ended up on your island,"

"But how come she's younger and doesn't remember anything," Yuffie asked

"Hmm, well its possible that the travelling between worlds changed her slightly I don't know. You wouldn't have a picture of her by any chance?"

Sora and Riku both shook their heads. Kairi felt in her back pocket and pulled out a glossy picture of her and Selphie in their school uniform. She handed it to Aerith.

Both she and Yuffie gasped.

"It is her!" they said in unison.

"Sora, you have to show this to Leon, it might give him hope about the others," Aerith hastily gave him the picture and started pushing him out of the door.

"Right," Sora said nodding his head.

X-X-X

"Damn Heartless!" Leon's gunblade sliced through them like knife to butter "Why don't you just fuck off and die?!"

His anger was unbearable. He ran forward and killed another few dozen. When no more were around he set himself on the ground and picked up the photo album. He skimmed through it and then stopped when it reached a group picture. It had been taken moments before Balamb and the rest of his world had been invaded by Heartless and they all had to evacuate to Radiant Garden. He looked at everyone's smiling faces from left to right…

_Kiros…didn't know him that well…but he was always helping Dad get out of trouble_

_Ward…didn't even need to say anything to help people_

_Laguna…took me a while to call him dad…wish I had more time_

_Ellone...Sis was always there for me…I just wish I could've been there for her when she needed it most_

_Quistis…she never let me down…I miss her lectures on how I shouldn't beat people to a pulp in training_

_Zell…hotdog man! He was always making us laugh_

He passed over the two people in the middle…

_Selphie…always smiling and running around for more stories to put on the BBS_

_Irvine…never one to deny helping others. He always had the…strangest advice_

_Matron…Edea raised me like her own…and really if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have known the joy of being a Kni…_

_Cid…he was always so foolish…but turns out in the end he knew what he was doing_

He now passed his eyes back to the couple in the middle…or really the _trio_…He was standing next Rinoa who had squatted on the floor hugging her dog, Angelo. He suspected to see her smiling but something he had never noticed about this picture before was that she looked sad…or worried…she wasn't looking at the camera…but at the floor. Her eyes were slightly droopy and when he looked at her hands Leon noticed they were balled into a fist. A thought struck him like lightening…

_Did she know?_

He shook the thought out of his head. Closing the book he stood up and dusted off his trousers. He bent down and picked up his gunblade. Walking out of Castle postern, he kept staring at Maleficent's castle. He turned away abruptly and went straight to his hotel room for a nap.

He lied on his bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, so he decided to let the time go by. He turned his head to the bed side cabinet. Reaching forward he flicked on the radio,

"…_and so today the houses were finished and-"_ he flicked to a different station he couldn't bother with news.

"…_cause I don't wanna spend my life cheated, wasted…!" _once again he flicked it over. Music was his first choice but something told him to keep looking.

"_What hurts the most, was being so close…!"_ again he changed it. He wasn't really in the mood for country

"…_I saw you smiling at me, was it-"_ NO! He definitely wasn't going to listen to that song. He was surprised it would even be playing. He decided the next song he would listen to no matter what it was…he flicked it over just as a song was finishing and a new song started as he drifted in an out of slumber…

_A hundred days have made me older  
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face  
A thousand lies have made me colder  
And I don't think I can look at this the same  
But all the miles that separate  
Disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face_

_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby  
And I dream about you all the time  
I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight, it's only you and me_

The miles just keep Rollin'  
As the people leave their way to say hello  
I've heard this life is overrated  
But I hope that it gets better as we go  


_I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby  
And I dream about you all the time  
I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight, it's only you and me_

_  
Everything I know, and anywhere I go  
It gets hard but it wont take away my love  
And when the last one falls  
When it's all said and done  
It gets hard but it wont take away my love_

_Whoa!_

I'm here without you baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you baby  
And I dream about you all the time  
I'm here without you baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight girl its only you and me

X-X-X

A few hours later he was disturbed as soft knock was heard on his door.

"_Leon…its me, Yuffie!"_

"What do you want?" he mumbled loudly

"_Well…we were just wondering if Sora had come to see you..."_

"Yes, he did…and…?" he said thinking back to the morning where Sora had disturbed his thoughts

"_Well…umm,"_ her voice gave off confusion

_Surely he would be happier to know Selphie's alive_, she thought, _oh well…_

"_Well…I guess I'll talk to you later…everyone's getting together tomorrow…cause of…you know…so I'll see ya then,"_ and then she walked away.

Leon sat up in straight,

_Tomorrow? _

He got out of bed and walked over to his calendar….then he saw the date…today was 2nd of March, meaning tomorrow was…_oh Hyne…_

He sat on the bed again and put his head in his hands.

Three years…tomorrow would be the third anniversary of the day everything was taken away from him….but it was only supposed to represent another special day…one which was always celebrated with cheer. The 3rd of March was Rinoa's birthday.

Unexpectedly he started to hyperventilate. Every time that day came around he would spend it away from everyone…but in the past two years everybody else had more important things to worry about. This year however there was nothing to distract anyone and they would spend it together either reminiscing or crying. He didn't want that…he didn't need it either. Everything was so difficult and seeing more people hurt would make it harder. He looked out the window and saw it was about to get dark. After straightening out his clothes he picked up his beloved weapon and left his hotel room. This time his feet did the leading and he walked straight past Merlin's house and into the shopping district. Hopping down the stairs and into the courtyard he saw that along the wall were flyers and posters, each one was put up by Aerith. He walked over to her each time observing the papers.

"What are you doing?" he asked

Aerith jumped at the sound of his voice, she turned and gave him a small smile.

"I've built a 'Missing and Memorial' wall," she gestured

Leon looked closely and saw that the wall was split into two by long blue tape. On one side were names permanently placed on the bricks of all the lives lost in the past years. Whilst on the side Aerith was working on now there were pictures, names and personality descriptions of people they didn't know the fate of. He started to scan down the wall each time taking steps away from Aerith. Then he saw her face. He stopped and read the details Aerith had written down.

Name: _Rinoa Julia Leonhart_

Spouse: _Squall Leonhart_

Age: _26 _

D.O.B: _3__rd__ March_

Hair Colour: _Black with caramel streaks_

Eye Colour: _Dark chocolate brown_  
Height: _5'5"_

Personality:_ A lively and bubbly girl. Also may be referred to as 'Rinoa Julia Heartilly'. She is very experienced when it comes to casting magic. She has a pet dog named Angelo and usually wears a silver necklace with two rings looped onto it. She has a tattoo of an Iris on her ankle and very small feet. She doesn't spare any seconds when it comes to helping others. _

_Please keep an eye out for her and if she's found please tell her to come home or contact one of us at the restoration committee. Thanks _

He looked up to the picture and saw her smiling face beaming at him.

"I guess tomorrow I'll have to change her age," Aerith giggled

"Why have you decided to do this now?" Leon asked without looking away from the picture

"Well after the incident with Selphie I thought there could be a lot of others out there who might not know who they really are,"

"What incident with Selphie?" Leon took his eyes away from the picture for the first time

"She's living on Sora's island but she can't remember anything about before and apparently she's only sixteen. Didn't Sora tell you?"

"No…so, she's ok?"

"Yeah, apparently she's always happy playing on the island and in school she keeps getting straight A's…except in math, so I guess some things haven't changed,"

"Did Sora say anyone else was there?"

"No Leon, but he said he'd start to keep an eye out when he travels to different worlds. I've given him copies of all these Missing posters,"

He nodded slowly then turned to her in all seriousness, he sighed deeply,

"In the Memorial…put _his_ name down…"

"Who's name?"

"Squall's, he's dead now and I doubt anything could bring him back…"

"But Leon?!"

"Do it…he died three years ago…along with the others,"

Aerith nodded and grabbed a silver pen. Using fancy calligraphy she chose a brick and regretfully wrote "Squall Leonhart".

Leon nodded and then he entered his house where he sunk to the floor and covered his face with his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

**Midnight**

Leon opened his eyes, to his surprise he had managed to fall asleep despite his earlier nap. Looking out the broken window he saw it was now pitch black and the moon was high in the sky. Rubbing his eyes he stood up and opened the door. Stopping in the frame he arched his back; sleeping on the floor probably wasn't the wisest thing to do.

As he stretched he heard a soft, whooshing noise. It reminded him of magic portals and when he looked towards the courtyard he was correct.

He ducked down behind the wall grabbing his gunblade. From the portal a hooded figure stepped out and looked around. He couldn't see their face but he could tell it was a woman from the figure and ensemble. She wore a tight fitting black mini dress which went across the top of the breasts. Attached were long, flowy sleeves and a dark blue belt went across the waist; a katana swung from her hip. On her feet were knee high boots which were colour co-ordinated with the dress. Her cloak was long and a very dark blue.

_Is she from the organisation?_ Leon thought observing her cloak

But just as he thought that, a few Heartless came out of the portal behind her. She ignored them and let them go about their business. Leon had to resist every urge to destroy them all and ruin his hiding place. He was far too curious about the stranger and wanted to see what she was up to.

He watched her for a while just observing her surroundings. She only moved from her spot when she saw the Missing and Memorial wall. Walking over to it she eyed all the Missing posters first. Leon saw her hesitate slightly and the flyer which belonged to Rinoa. Then as she moved along she entered the Memory side. She placed her finger over the names as she read them but when she reached a certain brick she clenched her hand into a fist. Leon raised an eyebrow his heart beating ferociously. The brick she had stop at belonged to "Squall Leonhart".

The woman stood staring at it for a while until soon Leon heard a soft sob. His eyes opened wide and he knelt a little higher. He noticed in the dim lamplight that her whole body was shaking. And then her cries turned louder. He watched as she moved her free hand to her face and her cries became muffled. Then her legs buckled and she kneeled at the bottom of the wall her hand grazed as it slid down the wall. She leant against the wall and shook her head viscously. But then just as Leon was about to go to her she stood and ran back into the portal. It was now as her back shone towards the light that he noticed on her cloak was a pair of white wings resembling those on his own jacket. He started to breath deeply and then watched as the portal began to close. He kept looking back and forth from wall to portal and then in a moment of impulse he ran towards it and threw himself into the dark abyss.

X X X

"Morning everyone!" Sora sang cheerfully as he entered Merlin's house, he looked around at all the sad faces "What wrong?"

It was then when everyone stirred; they looked at him and smiled.

"Morning Sora," Aerith sighed "When did you get here?"

Sora stepped back in surprise.

"Don't worry about them," Paine fluttered over to his side "They've been like this all morning"

Aerith, Yuffie, Merlin, Cid and Cloud were sitting in complete silence. Yuffie was staring out the window, Merlin was using magic to make a pot of tea, Cid just sat on his computer fingering the keyboard and Cloud was leaning against the wall, but then Sora didn't really think he was acting different. He looked over to Aerith who was sitting at Merlin's table timidly munching on a chocolate biscuit.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Today's the three year anniversary of when the Heartless invaded and Radiant Garden was destroyed," Yuffie said still lingering out the window.

"Oh…I'm sorry," Sora said lowering his head slightly

Yuffie turned around and smiled,

"Don't worry, we'll be ok, this day is just hard on all of us,"

"Where's Leon?"

"Oh, he's probably sitting in his hotel room staring at the ceiling…or going around destroying every Heartless in sight," Merlin remarked as he poured himself a cup of the hot drink "Although this day is hard on each of us he has two reasons to be sad"

"Taday was Rinoa's birthday," Cid explained circling on his chair.

"Umm…Rinoa? The girl with black hair?" Sora asked

"Yes, we were celebrating her birthday when they attacked," Aerith started her story "None of us were prepared. It's strange everyone was happy before they came but it seemed every smile Rinoa gave was forced. Leon…well he was Squall back then, kept asking her what was wrong but she just stroke his arm and said it was the classic 'Birthday Blues' people sometimes get. But she was only twenty-four. Usually people get them when they're turning forty or so. So everybody carried on as normal as possible, then just after she blew out the candles on her cake the ground began to shake and from the direction of the castle millions of Heartless flooded…" she stuttered as if difficult to go on. Noticing her trouble Cloud carried on,

"We all fought as much as we could. Some people lost their lives while others got seriously injured. Some of us had learned portal spells and we open a few but most of us were in such a hurry we didn't set a destination and they ended up anywhere. Rinoa's a sorceress and she used her powers to destroy a good few hundred. But they kept on coming. Soon we had to give up. Everyone who could, entered the portals. But a few of us stayed behind to help any others…Rinoa, Squall and myself ran all around Radiant Garden and she opened portals to safe locations sending them through. Then when we were sure there was no one left we started to make our way through, she managed to open a portal and I ran through first…that was the last time I saw her,"

"Squall arrived in Traverse Town alone and forever called himself Leon," Yuffie continued now "He'd decided the name Squall was sacred and was shunned because he couldn't protect Rinoa"

"What happened to her?" Sora asked interested deeply in the story

"We don't know he hasn't told a single soul and if we ask he walks away as if he didn't hear us…I don't think anyone will ever know what happened that day between them…"

X X X

"_Ahh!" _

"_Are you hurt?" He knew she was getting weaker every time she cast a spell. She had fallen to the floor in exhaustion._

"_I'm fine, just need to rest a bit!"_

_Squall leant down to pick her up but had to stop as countless numbers of heartless appeared on the horizon. He moved in front of her drawing his gunblade vowing to protect her with all his life. _

"_Leave; it's me they want and you know it!" _

_He squatted by her side holding her left hand; rubbing his thumb over the diamond ring and wedding band next to it. He shook his head,_

"_Don't be stupid, I'm not leaving you and I never will" _

"_You'll die if you don't go now, the portal's about to close!"_

_Once again he went to pick her up. _

"_No, you have to leave me here. They'll just keep on following you,"_

"_Stop it! I'm not leaving you! If we die, we die together!" _

_He watched as she turned her head away. She looked at the portal closely. With each second that passed it became smaller and smaller. She sighed deeply. _

"_I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you die because of me," _

_With that she lifted her hands and with a powerful magic she threw him toward the portal. He yelled as he was forced to enter it. He looked back as his wife. She was now unconscious on the floor and the heartless were covering her body. _

_No matter how much he struggled he couldn't free himself. He watched her open her eyes and lift her head. She went to say something but it was too late and the heartless had covered her completely and the portal was gone. _

_But he still heard her scream,_

"_SQUALL!!"_


	5. Chapter 5

**March 3rd**

Leon opened his eyes in shear agony. He wasn't used to the impact of teleporting and it had knocked him out cold. He rubbed his head and sat up. He was in a long corridor. Large windows were lined along it allowing the rising sun to enter.

_How much sleep can someone have in twenty-four hours? _He thought_, I feel like a cat._

He lifted himself up. He found his gunblade a couple of meters away from where he fell. He put it in his holster and started walking down the corridor. There was no sign of the mysterious woman and he was going based on pure hunch. The Heartless symbol was everywhere to be seen and looking out the window once again he realised he was Maleficent's Castle.

He was pretty convinced the witch was dead but a previous story about how she had helped Sora nagged inside his mind. He kept one hand on his sword at all times. And then soon as he turned a corner he found himself standing at the entrance of a large hall. The doors were wide open and directly in front of him, sitting on a stone thrown was Maleficent. She had already seen him and was smirking evilly. To her right was Pete, he seemed totally clueless to anything and was ordering a follower to give him a drink. To her left he saw the woman. She was standing strongly but he felt an essence of weakness. The follower with the drinks offered her one which she gracefully denied. She placed a hand on her stomach and breathed in deeply. She still had the hood up but this time she had long, dark hair flowing down one side of her body. Leon saw Maleficent had many followers. Each one looked hollow and un-dead. Their eyes gave no life and their presence was ghostly. Each one wore black elegant clothes. A few Heartless scuttled about but no one gave them a second look. Despite his better judgement Leon walked forward and went to the middle of the room.

"Hello there," Maleficent said in her cold voice "How nice of you to visit,"

Leon stood there silent,

"But unfortunately showing up uninvited is such a rude thing to do," she looked back and forth between the two people beside her. Finally she pointed to the girl,

"Angel, take care of this pest,"

Angel looked toward Maleficent before turning back to Leon, and then she slowly drew her katana and walked toward him. He noticed her breathing became deeper and more frequent. But none the less he drew his weapon.

Angel paused for a moment and stood directly before him, and then she lifted her katana and pointed it straight toward Leon. She took a small step back and then with a shaking hand flew forward and tried to strike. He spared no time at all lifting his gunblade and prevented her blows. She was very fast and managed to scrape him a few times. Every so often he would pull the trigger sending small pulse ammos out at her but still she was unharmed. No matter how close she got he couldn't see her face. But at one point he got so close and saw that around her neck was a silver chain with two rings looped onto it. It was then that he let his guard down and was pushed to the floor. Angel walked over to him and pointed her katana to his throat. Her whole body was shaking wildly and Leon swore he heard soft sobs.

"Angel, wait!" Maleficent's voice made him jump. He looked over to her and saw she gestured to two of the followers. They walked over to him and lifted him from the ground and placed heavy, metal handcuffs around his wrists. A third follower lifted his gunblade and left the room with it. Leon kept trying to break free but they had a firm grip on him. Angel had sheathed her weapon and stood with her arms crossed.

"Take him to your cell, he's yours to watch over now" Maleficent ordered.

Angel nodded and gestured for them to follow. She walked a good few metres ahead of them. Leon kept his eyes on her at all times but whenever he tried to say something the Followers hurt him in some way. It wasn't long before they turned a corner and they stopped for Angel to open the door. When the door clanged open Leon found himself in another large corridor but this one was more wide then long. At one end were a few stone steps and a large curtain he assumed led to another room. To the right was a red painted wall with pictures and some small lights. To the left was a large prison cell, bars all ran along from wall to wall just like he'd expect. But this was slightly unusual compared to the rest he'd seen in his life. It was very well furbished and didn't look like a cell at all. There were two doors against one wall where he noticed the signs for "Women's" and "Men's" Lavatories. There was a small writing desk on the right side where on the left side were a series of beds, surrounded by a fairly transparent curtain for privacy. Next to one of the beds was another door, no signs were indicated. Straight in the middle of the cell was a large window with a small built in settee. He seriously thought everything here he would find in Caraway Mansion. From what he could tell the cell was empty and part of him was glad for that. He watched as Angel produced an iron key and slid open the cell door. The Followers pushed him inside and as Angel walked away they removed his handcuffs. He watched them leave, closing the door behind them and then heard someone shuffle in one of the beds. He turned slowly hoping they weren't here to pick a fight but then his eyes almost popped out of his head,

"Zell!" he yelled a bit too loudly. A blonde man with an exotic tattoo sat on the bed. He looked a bit thinner then normal and his hair was styled differently but it was definitely him. Zell rubbed his eyes and looked around for whoever had called his name. He looked down from the top of his bunk bed and a wide smile crept across his face.

"SQUALL!" he jumped off the bed and ran over to present his friend with a big man-hug "Is it really you, man?"

"It's me alright," Leon pushed his friend off gently. He then heard more shuffling in the other beds and from under the covers he saw a familiar cowboy and instructor.

"Squall!" they yelled in unison.

Quistis ran over and hugged him tightly. He noticed her hair was longer and she didn't wear it in the usual style but had it down; letting it flow freely. Irvine remained sat on his bed and produced a small smile. His long brunette hair was also down but Leon noticed how he had managed to keep it at the same length.

"It's great to see you," Quistis said letting go

"It's not so great you're here though," Irvine finished

Leon nodded and looked around the room.

"Anymore people in here?"

"Well, Ellone lives in here but she won't be back until later," Zell explained

"Why? Where is she?"

"She's doing her job…we've each got jobs we have to do on a regular basis," Quistis explained

"So…she's the only one? Nobody else is in here?" he wanted to confirm his suspicions

"No…" Irvine was now back lying on his bed facing the ceiling, but then he quickly sat up again "Is Selphie in Radiant Garden?!"

Leon shook his head causing Irvine to lie back down.

"But she is ok!" he said hastily "She's in a place called Destiny Island…but she doesn't remember anything about her past and she's somehow only sixteen,"

"What? How is that possible?" Zell asked hopping on his own bed, Leon shrugged,

He stared at the faces off his three friends…then he blurted out the question screaming to escape his lips.

"Where's…Rinoa?" although he was sure he already knew

His friends all stared at each other. Some looked in pity, where the others in confusion.

"Please…" it almost came out as a beg

Slowly each of them lifted up their hands and pointed to the room at the end of the hall. Leon turned and saw Angel standing there; her hood still in place. When she saw them pointing at her and Leon's eyes upon her she turned around and ran into the curtained room.

"RINOA!"

Leon ran toward the farthest end of cell, closest to the room and stretched his arm out of the bars.

"Squall…she won't reply," Quistis told him softly. He turned rapidly,

"Why? What's wrong with her? Why is she following orders from Maleficent? Why-"

"Whoa man," Zell lifted his hands up high "Come and sit down and we'll tell you everything,"

Leon obeyed. Quistis had retrieved him a glass of water and handed it to him which he drank greedily.

"I guess it all started when we'd all been here a couple of months, it was hard to keep track," Zell began "We were all forced to stay in here with nothing do to at all. Rinoa was forever trying to come up with ways to escape and she kept trying to open portals but this chamber prevents any magic to be used. She always sat under the window watching the days go by. Back then this cell wasn't so nice. It was wet, dark, damp and the beds were bug-infested mattresses on the floor. Then one day a couple of Zorics-"

"Who?"

"The Zorics are Maleficent's human followers," Quistis explained quickly

"Yeah, so anyway, one day a couple of them came and asked for Rinoa. We refused to let her go but she said she was ok with it and left. When she came back it had been hours, she looked slightly worried. When we asked her what was going on, she said…"

X-X-X

"_They've found out I'm a sorceress and well…they want me to work for them," _

"_You mean become a Zoric?" Ellone asked_

"_I don't think exactly in the same sense…but she said that if I don't do her dirty work she'll hurt you all and I'm not going to let that happen," She held onto her rings_

"_Rin, you shouldn't worry about us," Quistis explained walking over to us "We'll still love you no matter what you choose to do"_

"_I'm going to do it," She stood from her seat and walked over to the window "I've been given two jobs and Maleficent said if I do them both she'll let you guys go,"_

"_What about you?" Irvine asked concerned_

"_Well…because of what one of the jobs are I need to stay here…unless, I dunno she's killed or something," _

"_What are the jobs?"_

"_Well the first one is the one that's going to get you guys out of here…I need to find and kill the chosen Key-Bearer. And the second one…well…you know once a month the moon turns slightly orangey?" _

_Everyone nodded_

"_Well, apparently that's when a sorceress's power is at its strongest. So what I need to do is be part of this ceremony where I transfer my power into Maleficent so she'll be stronger then before," _

"_But what will happen to you?"_

"_Don't worry I'll be fine. I'll just be knocked out for a couple of days whilst my power regenerates. But guys…because killing the Key-Bearer is my top priority I have to travel to different worlds. I won't be around all the time anymore and well…I dunno what could happen to me. And she's also given me that room up there, she said 'As my number one you need to be in the most comfortable location and you surely can't recover well in a dreary cell' and also next thing I know she's given me control of most of the Heartless and my own servants!"_

"_Well looks like you'll be doing ok for yourself," Irvine remarked_

"_Don't worry Irvy; I have a plan to make you all benefit from this," _

X-X-X

"So from then on she's been travelling to different worlds planting Heartless and looking for the Key-Bearer," Zell continued "Her plan fell through and she made this cell how it is today. She convinced Maleficent to give us better living areas, food and to give us jobs around the castle; she thought of everything,"

"How did she manage to do it?" Leon asked amazed at her abilities

"She told Maleficent that if she didn't treat us fairly she would kill herself. Maleficent needs Rinoa like a plant needs water. Each time Rinoa walked past she would smile and give us something new like a mug or carpet. Then she would sit on those stairs and talk to us for ages. She would tell us of all the places she's been and what she's seen. At one point she told us of how she'd seen you, in a place called Traverse Town…but Maleficent had told her if she told anyone about what she was doing or why she was doing it we'd be hurt. So she had to stay away from you. Sometimes she'd come back crying and we'd know it was because she had to be away from you,"

"Why does Maleficent call her Angel?"

"She needed to come up with a fake name so if she had to stay in a hotel or anything no one she knew would recognise her name. Quite clever really,"

"So…if she was always talking to you then why did she ignore me?"

The trio looked at each other concerned. Quistis decided to continue,

"One day she was talking with us when she was urgently called away for a mission, this was about two years ago. Apparently the Key-Bearer had been awakened and she needed to find him before he'd mastered the weapon. She was gone for two weeks and when she came back…everything changed. She had that cloak on and when she walked through the door she stumbled in agony. We asked her what was wrong but she didn't reply. It didn't look like there were any wounds at all and as soon as she heard our voices she ran into her room. Her servants followed and for another week she was dormant. We kept asking them what had happened but they ignored us as usual. So we decided to take action. When the cell door was opened for us to 'go to work' we pushed the Zorics away and ran toward her bedroom. But we were thrown back as an invisible force-field had been place preventing us from entering. We got into a lot of trouble for that. Then a few days after, she finally reappeared. She was walking like nothing had happened and she still had the hood up. We tried talking to her and although she stopped as if she was about to say something we never heard a word. Ever since we haven't seen her face and the only dialect we hear from her are orders to her servants or a simple piece of information like where they need us to work or something. We think she may have been injured in those two weeks and is embarrassed by her deformity but it doesn't explain why she'd stop talking to us. We miss her Squall, it's like Rinoa died and Angel has taken her place,"

"I know how that feels…" Leon said with a half-hearted laugh "But what about the ceremony? Don't you see her face then?"

"We used to watch the ceremony but after those few weeks we weren't allowed to anymore. When she walks past she's always wearing the cloak and then when she gets carried into her room afterward she's still wearing it; but we know that she needs it off during the ceremony, we don't know what happened then…and I doubt we ever will"

X-X-X

Leon rested his head on the pillow. He had been given the bed underneath Zell's and hadn't decided whether or not it was the greatest place in the world. In the last few hours the others had given him details or their daily life and he had told that all about how well the others are doing in Radiant Garden. He failed to mention he was friends with the Key-Bearer. A few times Rinoa had walked past but every attempt he tried in getting her to talk to him failed. He'd even wished her a happy birthday but nothing he did worked. Every so often she was holding different items and at one point she came back with a set of clothes, everyday, nightwear and a few pairs of underwear. Without a word she put them through the bars and placed them on the desk near them. When Leon examined them he noticed they were exactly his size. Inside them were a toothbrush and some sanitary equipment. He also noticed a bottle of deodorant…exactly the fragrance he'd worn everyday since he was seventeen. He inwardly smiled at how much she still remembered him. Sometime during the past few hours Ellone had returned from her work. Greetings had been exchanged and even a few jokes about how now there were only two girls in a room full of three boys. At which point Zell pointed out that although she may be straying Rinoa was still there.

Leon turned over; he couldn't sleep, not that he wanted to. He just stayed on his side watching closely out the window. He cursed himself for not thinking of searching the castle for her. All of these years could have been saved but he was too dumb. He understood perfectly how Zell, Quistis and Irvine could live in such a small confinement as back in Balamb Garden the rooms were small enough for one person. But he didn't know how Ellone could deal with it, although he did remember how she had lived on the White SeeD Ship at one point, so he assumed that was to thank for her patience.

His thoughts lead to Rinoa and what her room looked like. Was it big or small? He imagined it to be either pink or blue; with a dressing table and a cupboard with a million pairs of shoes. But that was a long shot as he doubted she would have any use for more then two pairs. He shook his head clear of thoughts and readjusted his pillows. He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. But that was when he heard it. He was unsure at first but looking over to the entrance of her bedroom he was almost certain. Focusing his hearing he heard Rinoa…his beloved Rinoa…crying.


	6. Chapter 6

**March 4th**

Leon awoke with terrible back pain. He had slept all night on his right side where usually in the night he'd alternate automatically. The sun had disturbed him from his slumber and was beating warm against his body. It took him a few moments to gather his bearings and remember where he was. Looking up he saw the dent of Zell's body in the mattress above him. Looking down to his feet he saw Quistis, Irvine and Ellone still asleep in their single beds. He wondered if this was Rinoa's bed before she 'moved out'. Lifting himself out from under the covers he went over to the window and sat in silence watching the world outside. He saw the Bailey miniscule in the distance. He sighed and leant against the wall taking his eyes away from the free world. Then he heard footsteps. The curtain leading to Rinoa's room was being pulled back. He watched as her whole body emerged from behind and walked out as gracefully as ever. As he suspected she was wearing her cloak but this time had different clothes on underneath. She was holding a bunch of papers and Leon could only imagine what was on them. He thought if she had been wearing a suit she'd look like a business woman. As she strode down the stairs her cloak got caught on something and she dropped her papers at the sudden stop.

"Son of a…" she whispered angrily

He didn't mean to but he laughed slightly. The first words he'd heard her say in three years and they were curses. After she picked up the papers she scrunched them together and started to walk away again. As soon as she appear directly in front of him, Leon stood,

"Good Morning, Mrs Leonhart" he spoke softly

Rinoa stopped in her tracks. Slowly he started to walk forward but hearing his footsteps Rinoa covered her mouth and ran through the metal door separating them once again.

"Damn, I thought you got her then!" Leon looked up to see Zell peering down from his bed. Crossing his eyes over the single beds he saw the remaining three had also been observing. Irvine smiled sadly and pulled the covers back over his head, the others following his lead.

X-X-X

After a few hours the others woke properly and got themselves ready for the day. A Zoric had brought them meals on a tray and Leon was surprised to see a worthy meal,

'_Must be due to Rinoa's negotiations'_ he thought

After eating everyone went about there business. Quistis sat on her bed writing in a journal, Ellone and Irvine had got themselves involved in a game of Triple Triad and Zell was sitting on the desk drawing a picture as far as Leon could tell. As for himself he ran a cold shower in the men's bathroom. By the time he'd dried off, dressed and brushed his teeth he had been in there for a good hour. When he entered the main room again he saw Rinoa standing at the bars passing Quistis a handful of papers.

"Number three and seven can wait till last but the others have to been done today," she told her

"Ok, is this the west wing or east?"

"West, we've almost finished the east now so Maleficent wants the rest started on. She's getting all excited because her castles almost being completely rebuilt. I think she's now widening her search for the Key-Bearer,"

"How?"

"She's telling Pete to start plonking Heartless everywhere again. Now he's traveling farther then ever before. He's going to the Great Woods. But anyway Scorpion will be in here in a second to give you your tools and take you over there. The Zorics need a bit more muscle," She started to walk toward the metal door

"Wait what about Squall?" Zell asked "Where's he at?"

Rinoa stopped suddenly one hand on the handle.

"He hasn't been assigned. He stays here," she said quietly and then left, closing the door softly behind her.

"That was strange," Quistis said fiddling with the paper in her hands

"Yeah," Zell agreed

"What was?!" Leon said slightly angered

"That's the most she's spoken to us in about two years, did you hear? She actually carried on a conversation, telling us about Pete and Maleficent,"

The others nodded,

"Seems like Squall's making a difference on her already," Ellone said with a smile in Leon's direction.

He just accepted it and prayed to Hyne she was right.

X-X-X

He sat alone in the room; he'd been there by himself for hours. He flicked through the Triple Triad cards a few times but there was no point in holding onto them if no one was around to play. He observed Zell's picture from earlier and saw it was of a girl, Viola, she was one of the library committee members back in Balamb Garden and Zell's girlfriend for a good few years. When Balamb was attacked and destroyed she was killed right before his eyes. Zell had never forgiven himself for letting it happen and for the first few months in Radiant Garden had walked around as a raving drunk. Eyeing the sketch one more time Leon congratulated Zell's artistic skills as the drawing looked as if she had been modelling. He wondered if he could ask him to draw one of Rinoa.

And just as that thought crossed his mind the metal door opened and she walked in. He noticed her body was slightly slanted to the right as if she was trying to ignore the fact he was in the room. Now he knew was his chance.

"Rinoa, please talk to me," He walked over to the bars watching her walk toward her room; eventually meaning walking past him "No ones here…if there's something wrong with you I need to know.," She stopped slowly as she reached the entrance; he was now as close as he could get without actually touching her "For the past three years I've been without you and now its like you're still gone. I don't care if you have a wound or scar…it would just mean you joined my club," he heard a small laugh "I miss your smile, I miss your eyes and your voice," to his surprise he started to choke up a bit "I miss the way you would sing all the time and how you would moan at me for not putting the toilet seat down…" he saw her wipe her cheek and noticed her hands came out glossy. He reached inside his trouser pocket and produced a hanky. Gesturing it toward her with his left hand, she timidly took it and wiped her face "I miss your cooking and the way you'd always wipe my face if for some reason I'd missed my mouth. I…I miss the way you'd give me a kiss each morning when I woke up and each night before I went to sleep. The way you could make me feel better about any situation, you'd calm my nerves and make me believe everything is going to be ok. But most of all I miss you, everything about you…" he stopped as he had to wipe his own silent tear

"I miss you too," he heard her say. It came out as a hoarse whisper "I miss you so much, these last three years have been hell. I've seen you a few times and each one I had to stop myself from going to you. When I saw that Memorial stone I would have died then and there. Although I was away from you I couldn't bear the thought of you dead. I always thought if you were alive then hopefully everything would find a way to solve itself and we'd be back together one day. But that was before…"

"Before what…please Rinoa, I don't care what's happened I just want to know your ok,"

"No, Squall I'm not ok. I've changed and it's not for the better. I have to hide my face because of it and I hate living in the darkness but it's the only way I can protect everyone I love. No one should be near me, not when I'm like this"

"Please, remember what I vowed to you? For better or worse and even if we weren't married I would still stick by that. I'm your knight and no matter what _I'm_ here to protect _you_,"

For the first time she had turned toward him. His arm was still reaching out of the bar and slowly he felt her left hand circle his own. Her touch was cold and foreign to him but he accepted every moment of it. He held her hand tightly and rubbed his thumb against the rings. She returned the pressure; rubbing her thumb against his own wedding band and kept the other hand on the wall as if trying to stop herself from falling.

He remembered they had words engraved on each of the bands insides and without even thinking he whispered them to her,

"My Angel"

That was it, the thing to make her sob loudly; she now used her right hand to wipe her eyes with his hanky. But still through all the tears and sobs she managed to reply,

"My Lion"

Slowly she removed her hand from her face and grabbed the top of her hood. Her hand was shaking as she started to pull it down but just as Leon was about to see her face clearly a loud bang caused her to stop as the others entered the room back from their days work. Quickly she whipped her hand away and ran into her room.

Leon cursed his friend's bad timing but only in his head. They stood dumb-founded as they watched their friend storm into the lavatory and slam the door shut.

"Oops"

X-X-X

Rinoa hadn't emerged from her room for hours. He still cursed secretly about the whole situation. In less that forty-eight hours he had managed to get her to speak to him and just as she was about to remove her hood they were interrupted and she was scared off. Although his friends had apologised he still wasn't willing to tell them about their conversation. It was way to personal and frankly none of their business. He lay on his bed thinking about how great it was to feel her and for her to be so close he could smell her. It had changed over the years. She used to smell of lavender where now she smells like roses. He closed his eyes and tried to feel it all again. But just as he was peaceful a loud gong echoed through the castle. Zell hopped off of his bed with a thump and ran to the window. Leon sat up defensively.

"Yup, just as I thought…tonight's the night people. The moon's more orange then a moomba,"

"Orange? You mean the ceremony…?"

Everyone nodded.

Just then two portals opened from the wall outside the cell. Two hooded Zorics emerged and went toward Rinoa's room.

"They're her servants, Isis and Pebble," Quistis whispered "They also look after her if she's wounded or sick. They respect her greatly and would jump off a cliff if she told them too,"

A conversation could be heard from the room but the words only came out as murmurs. Then as expected a hand pulled the curtain back. Isis walked out first, then Pebble with Rinoa walking in the middle. She was now wearing a long black dress that skimmed the ground. There were no arms but the dress shaped around the breasts. As the others had told her she still wore her navy hood. As she walked Leon noticed she wasn't wearing shoes and as her bare feet touched the ground he smiled as he remembered Aerith saying she had extremely small feet. He'd never noticed before but it was true. On her right ankle was a tattoo of an iris. The blue flower had two vines around the edges and twisted beautifully. She had got it when she was twenty-one on the fifteenth year memorial of her mother's death. Iris's had been her favourite flower.

So Leon watched her gracefully walk past and leave the room without a word.

It was a few hours before he heard the door go again. He had tried to ask what took place in the ceremony but nobody could describe it easily. He watched as Isis opened the door and held it open. For this time Rinoa did not elegantly walk in she was on a stretcher being carried by two male Zorics; Pebble following closely. Impulse took over and although Leon had been warned of this moment nothing could have prepared him for it. He ran to the bars yelling her name. Zell and Irvine tried to hold him back but struggled. Pebble ran over and scolded him.

"Sorceress Rinoa needs her sleep. If she is disturbed during her regeneration process then she could forever be scarred. Please be quiet!"

Leon stopped fighting his friends and walked over to his bed. He didn't say another word for the rest of the night and luckily for him, his friends respected his decision.


	7. Chapter 7

**March 7th**

"Leon?" Aerith knocked on the hotel door "Are you ok? We haven't seen you in days,"

"Still no reply?" Cloud walked behind her

"No…I'm getting worried, what if he's done something stupid?"

Cloud nodded.

"Alright then…Leon we're coming in," in one swift movement he drew his sword and sliced the door in half.

"Great something else we need to rebuild" Yuffie remarked joining them in the hallway.

"I'll go in first," Cloud said taking the lead. Aerith and Yuffie waited in the hallway "He's not in here," they heard him yell. Entering the room they looked around to see it was empty just as he said.

"Where could he be?" Aerith asked sitting on the bed "He isn't anywhere around Radiant Garden,"

"Maybe he took a Gummy Ship and flew to Destiny Island…you know to see Selphie," Yuffie opened his drawers to see it filled with clothes "Maybe not,"

The trio sat in the room silently. Then Tifa appeared at the door,

"Whoa, what happened here?" she asked jumping over the broken door.

Just as they were about to answer a monotone ring echoed throughout the room. Cloud dug in his pocket and flipped open his mobile.

"Yes,"

"_Cloud, it's me Cid, get over 'ere ASAP with tha girls. The surveillance cameras picked up something. You gotta see this…" _

And then he hung up.

"Come on," Cloud said walking out of the room "We have to go to Merlin's"

X-X-X

"Took ya long enough," Cid was sitting on his computer

"What's going on?"

The four of them walked over to the computer.

"Look at this…" Typing in a few codes he produced a slightly fuzzy video. It was of the courtyard. They watched as a hooded figure walked over to the Memorial, she started to cry and then quickly ran into a portal behind her. Following her was Leon, he jumped through the portal and it closed behind him.

"Where did he go?" Yuffie asked in fright

"Hell if I know, but what we know is that where ever he went it was filled with Heartless and he hasn't come back,"

X-X-X

"You do this everyday?" Leon was helping Zell move a large cinder block

"No, sometimes it's not so laboured. Other days we clean, sometimes we paint. And often we just serve Maleficent. We're not known as Zorics though because we don't follow her. We more like slaves…but at the end of the day its better then sitting in a Cell all day doing nothing. This way we're getting out and having exercise,"

"Do you know how the Castle got destroyed?"

"A year or so ago the Key-Bearer stormed the castle. He fought with Maleficent and destroyed nearly everything. For a month or two it was believed Maleficent was destroyed but then she came back, we didn't even have a chance to escape,"

Leon nodded and lifted the block high upon another. He wiped his brow and tightened his glove.

"Here," Zell threw a bottle of water at him, and then swigged his own.

"Have you ever tried to escape?"

"Once or twice but each time we were foiled; then in some way punished. I dunno if it's my business to tell ya but Quistis is blind in her left eye," He pulled up his t-shirt showing a long scar from his belly-button to his right hip "That was from our second escape. You know Maleficent's staff can sure pack a lot,"

"What about the others?"

"Irvine's got scars all up his back where he protected Ellone. She hasn't got a single mark on her because of him. I wish I'd thought of that,"

"…and Rinoa?"

"She begged us to stop trying. Then we all sat down and agreed. She's doing so much to stop us from getting hurt and yet we're causing the pain ourselves. We decided that if we'd carry on, everything she's doing would be for nothing. Ever since, we've lived our lives here and got used to it as much as we could,"

"You know something…? You've changed,"

"How so?"

"You just have…but I think this time it's for the better,"

"You two, stop slacking!" A tall Zoric pointed toward them

Leon stood and continued to work with Zell. Then he heard a soft voice, turning his head he saw Rinoa talking to one of the followers.

She was leaning against the wall; Isis and Pebble close by. Her servant's cloaks were no longer hooded and he saw their faces for the first time. They weren't as dead looking as the others and could even be classified as pretty.

"Yo Man, little help,"

Leon looked back to Zell who was struggling with another block. Taking one end he supported his side and he was glad that when they'd placed it in its chosen location they were told to head back to their cell.

As soon as they entered Leon collapsed on his bed. Zell laughed,

"I'm guessing you're not used to hard labour,"

"Well, not like this, I do my fair share restoring Radiant Garden. But we have cranes and ships to lift the heavy stuff,"

"Woo, I'm beat!" Irvine entered allowing the Zoric to open the door "I had to carry all these wooden poles from the south gate to the east wall,"

"Couldn't you have just rolled them along the floor," Leon asked

Irvine slapped his forehead,

"I'm an idiot," he sat on his bed and removed his shoes "What were the girls doing?"

"Cleaning the main hallway windows. I just hope they had a ladder," Zell took of his jacket "Well I'm having a shower, I think you better have one after Irv, I can smell your feet from all the way over here,"

"Oh good, I thought that was me," Leon held his nose

The three men shared a laugh and he finally understood how they could have survived these years. He put it all down to the company. They would stay by each other and possibly keep each other from going insane. But then what about Rinoa? Who did she have to talk to? Who did she have to laugh with and to share her secrets with? And that's when he realised…because of this alleged incident that took place…because of her fears and worries…she was all alone.

X-X-X

It wasn't long before Ellone and Quistis returned from their duty. It was now that Leon noticed Quistis's eye was slightly miss-coloured and didn't focus. He felt slightly bad but didn't bring up the subject. She seemed to carry on as normal and the loss of her sight didn't affect her in the slightest. In the last two hours they had been given their evening meal and had sat down to a conversation. Leon however decided he was too tired to include himself deeply. Rinoa had also retired to her room. She didn't seem to carry herself as strongly as usual. Leon assumed it was because she was still recovering from the ceremony. It wasn't until she had walked past that Leon decided to start a whole new subject although he kept his voice to a whisper.

"Do any of you know if she can hear us?"

"Only if we speak normal tones," Ellone whispered "She wouldn't be able to hear us like this"

"How can you tell?"

Everyone looked at each other with a smile.

"Because the Faeries tell us everything,"

Leon looked back extremely confused,"

Quistis stood up and walked into the woman's bathroom. Bringing out a mug she looked to see if Rinoa was anywhere near the entrance. When she saw the coast was clear she threw the mug on the floor and let it smash to a million pieces. Leon raised an eyebrow.

"Oh-no, I-seemed-to-have-broken-my-favourite-mug!" Quistis said loudly and very poorly acted. She then went and sat on her bed.

"Now we wait," She whispered.

X-X-X

It had been hours since Quistis's little performance art and Leon had no idea what he was meant to be waiting for. Ellone had cleaned up the broken mug and now everyone was sitting in their beds. They had told Leon to lie down and face Rinoa's bedroom. Everyone was awake but pretending to be asleep. The lights had been dimmed as usual everyone was keeping an eye out for what they called "The Midnight Faerie".

Leon imagined a form of Heartless or a Zoric but when they'd been 'sleeping' for an hour or so they heard shuffling from Rinoa's bedroom. For once she wasn't wearing her cloak but the lights were too dimmed and they couldn't see her face. She was wearing a silk nighty and carrying an item in her hands. She looked over to the beds and when she saw they were all asleep she stepped forward a bit. She didn't stray from her steps but reached the bottom one. Then with perfect grace she balanced on one foot and held onto a bar with one hand. In her other hand she could now be seen carrying a ceramic mug. She reached through the bars and placed it on the desk. It was now when Leon saw how long her hair was. It fell forward and was level with her hip. In a flash she pulled her arm back and ran into her room. Leon saw Zell shuffle in the bed above him and then lean his head down from the bunk so he appeared upside down.

"That's who we call 'The Midnight Faerie'"


	8. Chapter 8

**March 17th **

"…Happy Birthday to Zell!" Everyone sang "Happy Birthday to you!"

Clapping everybody tried to be as cheerful as possible.

"I just wish we had a cake for you," Ellone said as she gave him a sisterly hug "But as always we'll try and make it the best we can"

"Thanks everyone," Zell sat on the settee under the window "It's not so bad…but I do feel old,"

"Imagine how I feel," Ellone and Quistis said in unison causing the room to fill with laughter, but everyone stopped as they saw Rinoa start to walk down her steps carrying a brightly coloured box. To everyone's surprise she stopped at the cell's door and opened it slightly. She put the box on the floor and closed the access, but instead of running away she stood there for a few moments.

"Happy Birthday," she whispered and then started to take a few steps back.

"Thanks Rin," Zell said walking toward her slowly "You can stay for a bit of ya want"

Leon watched as Rinoa held onto her rings as she would in any tough situation. She stuttered a bit as if having trouble deciding.

"Please," Zell said now lifting up the box "I'd love to have all my friends with me on my birthday,"

Leon saw her hold her breath and then to everyone's surprise she nodded. Slowly she walked to the steps and took a seat. She held onto her knees a bit worried about the whole condition. Leon smiled slightly and he could tell that by the position of her hood she was looking at him. He wondered if she was smiling back at him and Hyne he wished she was. When he heard Zell yell in delight he turned away,

"Wow! This is awesome!" Zell put the box on the desk and pulled out a large chocolate cake. On the top was a hotdog made out of icing and biscuits.

"Just what we wanted!" Ellone said cheerfully

"Thank Hyne for the Midnight Faerie!" Irvine cheered

Everyone applauded and Quistis ran into the wardrobe and produced a set of plates and forks and a very long knife. Zell greedily picked off the hotdog icing and then resumed to cut the cake. He cut off six slices and handed them out. He handed Leon two and gestured toward Rinoa. Leon took a fork and slid the cake through two bars; amazed it fit. Rinoa looked up at him and then timidly stood. She reached forward and took the plate and fork. She held them both with two hands and then thanked him quietly. Now Leon didn't return to his seat. Instead he sat down between the bars and desk; although it was a tight squeeze, but this way he was closest to Rinoa.

"This is delicious," Irvine choked with his mouthful "Where did you get it Rin?"

"Umm," her voice, as always, was very quiet "From a bakery in the Village outside Beast's Castle,"

"If we ever get outta here I'm so going there," Zell sang as he had another bite.

Leon watched as Rinoa took very small pieces on her fork. Others would see it as dainty but him and his friends knew it was because she was now shy around them.

Everything was peaceful. They did try and start a conversation but there wasn't much left afterward.

"Who's up for another slice?!" Zell asked licking his lips

Everyone agreed apart from Rinoa who was still finishing her first. Zell passed out the slices and then walked back holding his own and Leon's. But as he approached his foot got caught on the rug and he fell forward; the cake flying from his hands and landing straight onto Leon's face. Standing up he panicked slightly,

"Yo man, you can't be mad at me on my birthday, right?" He took some timid steps backward. Everyone was silent as Leon rubbed the cake from his eyes; his expression not so pleasant "I'm sorry, here lemme get-"

And that's when everybody heard it, at first they thought their ears were tricking them but turning to face her it was true. Sitting on the stone steps, trying her best to stop…Rinoa Leonhart was laughing uncontrollably. Her whole body was shaking and it caused the now empty plate to fall and spin on the ground. She placed her hands to her face and bent her body forward trying to stop her sides from splitting in two. And then, like some miracle, one-by-one the others joined in until there was only Leon left and slowly but surely a smiled appeared at the corners of his mouth and he began to laugh along with his friends. The room echoed with laughter and soon it seemed everyone had even forgotten what they were laughing at. Happy tears appeared in some of their eyes which they wiped away with more giggles. Rinoa was still bent forward and now her hands were around her waist. Leon had been given a towel and had wiped his face a few times still chortling loudly.

But like some cruel fate just when everything was happy the metal doors clanged open and Isis ran in slightly out of breath.

"Milady, we have just been told that the Key-Bearer is no longer in Radiant Garden,"

Rinoa stood urgently.

"Where has he gone?"

"He's made his way to the Land of Dragons, but Sorceress there are two other wielders with him,"

"What? How is that possible?!"

"We're unsure but now Maleficent has ordered you to kill them all, you must leave right away"

Rinoa stood for a few moments before nodding and running toward Isis and through the door. Leon stood hastily,

"Rinoa no, you'll be killed!"

But it was too late and she was gone.

"Don't worry Squall she's been going after him for years and she always comes back alright," Ellone rested both hands on his shoulders

"But you don't know what he's capable off…he's killed Heartless and Nobody's and Xenahort, MCP and at one point even Maleficent I'm sure!"

"How do you know so much about him?"

"Because I was the one who found him!"

"What?!" everyone cried in unison

"It was back in Traverse Town, he wasn't…listening to reason so we fought. He collapsed straight after so Yuffie and I carried him to my hotel room. He was really out of it when he woke up thinking Yuffie was his friend Kairi. Then some Heartless attacked and he met up with two members of the King's court, Donald and Goofy. He travelled with them and saved the world. Next thing we know he's gone for a year and when he comes back the Organisation is involved and then there was some business with the towns defence mechanism and Ansem's computer and…well it's a very long story…but I know what Sora's capable of and-"

"Alright, calm down," Ellone pulled out the desk chair and ordered him to sit "I'm sure if Rinoa feels she'll be out numbered she'll return. She's not stupid; she knows how to look after herself,"

As night approached Leon decided to take a hot shower and then go to bed. Everybody soon taking his lead.

X-X-X

"_You're getting slow, Mr Leonhart!" Rinoa ran into the courtyard and spun around elegantly. Squall appeared not too far behind her gasping for breath,_

"_I let you win," he said between gasps "...Mrs Leonhart," _

_Rinoa giggled and looked at her left hand,_

"_Still not used to it," she smiled. By now Squall had appeared beside her. _

"_Well you better get used to it…that ring cost me a fortune," he joked _

"_Oh it shows," Rinoa agreed. She then dropped her arm and sank to the floor "It's so heavy!"_

"_Oh…well then maybe I should exchange it for a smaller one," he said taking her left hand and pretending to take it off. She quickly snapped her hand away_

"_Don't you dare!" _

_Squall laughed and took both of her hands lifting her off the ground. She dusted herself off and turned her head to look at her back. She dusted her rear, _

"_You missed a spot," Squall said still holding onto one of her hands_

"_Where?" _

_Squall then used his free hand to pat her rear end and stroke it slightly. Rinoa giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm_

"_Under those mean, serious eyes is a rabbit waiting for the opportune moment to…hump," _

"_No, just a hungry lion waiting to pounce," _

"_No, no I can see right past those icy, blue eyes,"_

"_Really?" he leant toward her and fluttered his eyes stupidly "so what do see now?" _

"_A really bad impression of Irvine," she laughed playfully pushing him away_

"_Oh so you'd rather be married to Irvine?" Squall asked jokily crossing his arms_

"_No…" she waited for him to smile slightly "He's not as rich as you," _

_At that remark he started chasing her once again. She ran up the stairs towards their house and he stood at the bottom. She hopped to the door frame,_

"_Come on then Lion, come up here and show me what you've got that Irvine doesn't," _

_And then she was chased into the bedroom; the door shutting quickly behind them. _

X-X-X

Leon opened his eyes. That had been the first dream he'd dreamt of Rinoa that didn't end in losing her. He actually awoke with a smile on his face instead of sweat. He looked down to see Quistis awake reading a book with a torch.

"Quistis," he whispered. She looked over to him "Has Rinoa come back yet?"

She shook her head,

"Not that I know of, I've been asleep for the past few hours so she might have, I dunno"

Leon nodded his head and went back to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**March 22nd**

"That's it I don't think I can take it anymore," Leon blurted out "She's been gone for days and we don't know if she's alright or not," He paced around the cell angrily "I have half a mind to jump out the window and pray to Hyne to grow wings,"

"Well praying doesn't always help," Irvine said bluntly "If it did we'd be out of here three years ago,"

"Come on Squall, I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she hasn't even found him yet," Ellone sat on the desk chair making a paper fortune teller "Pick a colour,"

"What?"

"Come on it will distract you for a few minutes; now pick a colour, red, blue, green or pink?"

"Blue…"

"B-L-U-E. Good now pick a number, three, six, nine or twelve?"

"Three…"

"One-Two-Three, and pick another number, two, four, six or eight?"

"Four…"

"One-Two-Three-Four, Okay...'Life has unexpected surprises. Use the next one to your advantage"'

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I dunno, I wrote them but it doesn't mean I understand them,"

"Great" he said sarcastically "…something else I don't understand"

He leant against the wall and propped his foot up. Closing his eyes he let the sound of the clock tick away. He heard Ellone run around asking the others to pick a colour, each fortune more confusing then the last. Soon they heard the metal door clang open,

_Must be lunch time_ He thought, but opening his eyes his heart pounded in his chest.

Rinoa had appeared behind the door clutching her side. She was stumbling and holding onto the wall for support. Blood trailed from her wound,

"Rinoa!" Leon ran over to the bars and stretched his hand out. When he couldn't reach her he started shaking the bars viciously. She managed to reach the steps to her room before collapsing completely; causing a pool of blood to form. The others had now joined Leon at the bars. It took no time at all before the door opened once again and Isis and Pebble ran inside. They held Rinoa up by the arms and did their best to carry her inside her bedroom.

"Let me out of here!" Leon yelled still shaking the bars

Just then a portal formed and Maleficent stepped out looking as cold as ever.

"Oh dear, someone's not behaving," she gestured toward Leon and a blast of energy caused him to be flown back. Then with no more acknowledgements she strode into Rinoa's quarters.

Leon picked himself up and ran back to the bars. Everyone stood in silence hoping to hear the conversation and luckily for them, they managed to hear it perfectly,

"_Mistress she has lost a lot of blood," _

"_I see…has she mentioned anything about who did this?"_

"_Well she keeps on repeating the name Sora," _Leon cursed himself inwardly

"_Yes it would be that little twit. Well it seems like she's failed this time, but I am impressed she came out alive…watch her closely and do whatever she asks,"_

"_Yes madam,"_ they heard both girls say.

They saw a long hand pull back the curtain and once again they were in the presence of the horned witch.

From behind them they heard the sound of a black crow; making them turn hastily.

"Looks like I have a new Sleeping Beauty," Maleficent said making them return their gaze "But I wonder…who will be her prince?" as she walked she kept her eyes on Leon at all time. An evil smirk pierced her lips and then without another word she disappeared into a black threshold.

For hours Leon sat near the bars trying to see into Rinoa's room. He didn't care if he got into trouble; all he wanted was to be able to be by Rinoa's side. After a while Isis and Pebble emerged;

"I never knew she was so strong," Isis said

"Well she must have something to motivate her; I don't think I could ever be as br-"

"Is she ok?!" Leon had followed them "Please, will she be alright?"

Isis and Pebble stopped. They gazed at Leon for a few seconds because looking at each other; then with a small nod Pebble started to speak;

"Angel has suffered a serious wound to her torso. She has lost a lot of blood but luckily the injury just missed her lung avoiding any puncture. Thanks to magic from our Mistress, the great with Maleficent she will recover quicker then most people in her situation but she will be bed-ridden for a few days; possibly a week. We understand your concern but please rest assured we are doing everything to make sure an ill fate will not approach and she is as comfortable as possible,"

Once again the girls looked at each other and with another small nod left Leon and the others confused as ever.

"She told you…" Quistis rose from her bed "She actually told you what's going on!"

"That's strange and unusual," Zell remarked

"Well the good thing is we know she'll be alright," Ellone walked over to Leon "Now you can relax,"

"No," Leon tightened his grip on the cell bars "I need to see her…tonight…I'm getting out of here,"

X-X-X

The clock sounded a small chime. It was seven o'clock and in the next half hour dinner would be served and Leon's plan would be held out. The others had asked him about a hundred questions but he kept everything to himself. He wasn't going to let any eaves droppers ruin his chance. So he stood resting on the cool bars…waiting.

This time his eyes were constantly on the metal door separating them from the rest of the castle.

Just as he suspected soon he saw the handle push down and the sound of a wheels clanked across the ground. An elderly Zoric was pushing a metal trolley. On the top shelf was a broth pot with five bowls and spoons next to it. Underneath on the other two shelves were five plates filled with food and sheltered with plastic covers. Leon stood fairly close to the door but far away enough so it didn't look suspicious. He watched as the Zoric stopped outside the door, produced a key and slid the door open. He waited for her to enter and placed the meals on the desk. As she handed out the bowls and used a large spoon to serve the soup, Leon slipped his hand into his trouser pocket. Inside was a thin piece of paper. He folded it a few times and then without anyone noticing he propped it inside the door latch. Then he casually walked over waiting for soup. He tried hiding a small smile as he watched the Zoric walked away none the wiser. Then he ate his food just like any other night and he knew all he needed to do was wait until the lights were dimmed and the castle was at slumber.

X-X-X

He watched as everybody climbed into their beds. He was still in his everyday clothes and not saying anything. Everyone kept a close eye on him and then finally he knew it was time and stood from his bed. He felt the others eyes on his back but it didn't stop him. He strode over to the cell door and with no struggle at all slid it open quietly.

"How did you do that?!" Zell asked

"I put a piece of folded paper in the door latch stopping it from locking,"

"Where do you learn to do that?"

"Who do you think?" Leon said crossing his arms

Everyone looked at each other,

"Yuffie," they all said in unison

Leon nodded. He then turned to the opening and took a step out. He paused and looked around, when he felt all was clear he turned around and closed the door.

"Wait!" Quistis flew to the bars "what if you can't get back in?"

"Rinoa has a key; if it comes to it I'll use hers,"

Quistis nodded slowly and walked back to her bed. Everyone waved and then lied back down.

Leon took a deep breath and then quietly walked toward the room. As he reached the steps he held his hands out forward remembering the barrier that the others had told him about the last time someone tried to approach. As he walked he imagined he must have looked like a zombie but nothing distracted him from his determination. It now wasn't just a visit, for him it was need to fulfil the desperation he felt. He needed to see her, he needed to feel her, smell her but most of all he needed to taste her. He wanted to be able to place his lips upon hers and let her know no matter what, he still loved her despite everything they'd been through.

When no barrier through him aside he placed his hands on the velvet curtain and held his breath, slowly he pulled it back and stepped into the room, expecting the worst.

But when he walked in he immediately felt at ease. The room was big and elegant. There was a large window to the left from ceiling to floor. There were ruby drapes that were open and the full moon was shining in casting light and shadows. A small side window was opened and a small breeze wafted in. He saw the windows opened up to a balcony. On the wall directly opposite to him next to the window was door. It was wide open and he saw a few clothes avalanching out. He gave a small smile,

_No matter where she is she's always the same_, he thought, _she always could put her clothes away neatly. _

He saw along the wall next to him was a dressing table. It had various make up and brushes on the desk. He walked over closely and saw that on the mirror was a picture. It was slightly torn and of him and Rinoa on their wedding day. Her dark eyes stood out amongst the white of her dress. He stood next to her in his SeeD uniform. Their arms were linked and she was holding onto a bouquet of roses and irises. She had a silver tiara on her head and the veil was pushed back. Half of her hair was up in a fancy bun whilst the other remained down. Leon smiled once again and placed his hands over the picture, he was amazed that she even had such a thing and even more amazed that she had it where she'd see it everyday. Now he looked to the left and that's when he saw it. A large, circular king sized bed was surrounded in burgundy covers. On each side were bed side cabinets and on both were lamps switched on dimly. And there sleeping in the middle of the bed breathing softly was Rinoa.

He clenched his fist in nerves and then quietly walked around the bed to the end farthest away from the door. As he approached he could see her face was not covered. He paused and squinted is eyes shut,

_Now or never, today's the day I found out why she's changed so much _

Slowly he took a few steps forward and then her face was in view. What he saw surprised him but not because she had sort of deformity but because to him she was the face of heaven. Just one mere glance sent his heart soaring. Her long black hair was resting beside her. But as he got closer he saw why she hid her face.

Her lips shone navy and around her face and neck were blue patterns resembling fire. Her eyelids had black streaks permanently tattooed; making her look like she was constantly wearing eyeliner. Her skin was tinged azure. He hadn't seen someone with such exotic markings since Ultimecia and Adel; the sure signs of a sorceress with a dark heart.

"Oh, Rinoa," he whispered as he sat softly on the bed next to her.

He sat watching her. Her arms were placed over her stomach and the blanket snugly fit between the two. He looked down to her hands and saw that whilst they were gripping onto each other they were also holding onto the handkerchief he gave her to wipe her eyes. Subconsciously he reached forward and held her hands with one of his. He could feel her stomach rise and fall with the dance of breath. A soft wind blew her hair in front of her face causing it to rest gently over her nose. Automatically he stroked her face; pushing the hair away. He heard her moan softly and her eyes started to flicker. Slowly she opened them dully. It took her a while to register everything in her mind. Leon's hand was now on her neck. The skin marked with patterns didn't feel any different but it was slightly colder. He watched her look up at him. Her eyes were not the chocolate brown he remembered but a golden, amber. When she saw him she gave him a small smile but when she realised he was looking directly at her face, in her bedroom, sitting on her bed she panicked. She gasped loudly threw her hands to her face covering them up. She tried to sit up but then screamed in pain as the agony groped from her side.

"Don't try to move," he told her gently pushing her back, he heard her start to cry quietly. Her hands were still over her face, he held her wrists and pulled them away. She turned her head trying to hide,

"Please, Squall don't look at me,"

"Why…?" he placed his hand on her cheek; forcing her to look at him "You're still as beautiful as I remember,"

Her eyes showed shock and fear. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something but then broke down again. Leon looked to her stomach where the hanky sat and he used it to wipe the tears himself.

"I'm a monster,"

"No you're not…how did it happen, Rinoa?" she held onto his hand tightly "How did you get like this?"

"It happens when a sorceress is away from her knight," she sobbed

Leon turned away and closed his eyes.

"Rinoa, I'm so sorry. I should have searched more; I shouldn't have stopped until I-"

"Squall don't, it's not your fault. I've seen what you and the others are doing for Radiant Garden. Its more important…" she stopped as she pushed herself up slowly ignoring the pain "I just wish I was as strong as you, I gave in and now I've ruined so many lives and-"

"Shhh, Rinoa it's not how you see it. You're protecting the others by doing everything you can," As she sat up the duvet fell. A bandage was wrapped around her torso multiple times covering her breasts and stomach. She gripped onto Leon's shoulders for support and even though her nails were long and dug into his skin he liked the feeling that she still needed him and trusted him enough to hold him. She coughed as she adjusted her position and Leon saw a pitcher or water and a glass next to her lamp. He leaned forward and then instead of handing her the glass he held it to her mouth. He waited for her to gulp it down and then put it back on the table. He scooted forward so now instead of Rinoa holding onto his shoulders her arm was wrapped around his neck. She placed the other arm on his leg for aid. Leon; although he was in an uncomfortable position took her arm and scooted forward once again, he placed her arm around his neck with the other one and then put one of his hands around the left side of her waist pulling her close.

"Ouch" Rinoa squeaked but still tightening her grip on Leon's neck.

"Is it really bad?" he cursed himself for asking such a stupid question

"I've had worse before, this is just in an awkward position," he heard her sniff deeply "…you smell nice," Leon laughed slightly

"You do too…" he felt her remove her arm and start to stroke his chest. He nuzzled into her hair and played with the ends. He closed his eyes tightly "Rinoa, I need to let you know, I didn't have the chance to say it before, so I'll say it now. Despite everything, the years we've been apart, where we are now, it doesn't matter to me…Mrs Leonhart, I love you more then I ever have before" he felt her grip harden.

"I love you too, Mr Leonhart,"

Leon tingled…he wasn't really Mr Leonhart anymore but to her he was and around her he was. To her he will always be Squall no matter what the situation. He pulled out of the embrace and used his free hand to pull her face close. Then his heart leapt out of his chest as for the first time in three years he placed his lips upon his wife's and kissed her passionately exploring every inch of her mouth.

Leon stayed during the night. When Rinoa asked him he didn't need to think twice. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep in her condition despite trying to fight it. Leon had to do his best to convince her and in the end he managed to get make her sleep by stroking her hair and arms. For ages he stayed watching her until his own fatigue took over and he settled down with her in his arms.


	10. Chapter 10

**March 23rd**

When the sun woke up so did Leon. It shone in and he felt the heat on his back. A soft wind blew his hair and he felt totally at peace. He had never woken up in such a good mood before. As he saw the sleeping figure lie next to him he wanted nothing more then for it to last forever. He reached his hand out and with the tip of his forefinger traced the outline of the markings.

_How could I do this to her?_ He thought, _what did she do to deserve this?_

She murmured and shifted. He smiled and then gently leant forward and kissed her softly. He pushed himself away and saw her open her eyes. But then she lifted her arms and pulled him down for another kiss. When they separated he looked into her amber eyes,

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly

"A lot better…" she started to sit up but winced in pain "still a bit sore though"

Leon held onto her arms and gently slid her up the pillow, propping them against the head rest. She turned her head and looked out of the window,

"I don't remember the last time we watched the sunrise together…"

Leon nodded and followed her gaze. Despite being a prisoner in a dreary castle the sunrise still looked as beautiful as always,

…_.maybe _he thought, _because_ _I'm with the one person I know makes everything beautiful…_

He closed his eyes to once again breathe her scent, then as if automatically he slipped down the pillows and lifted her arms. She turned back and understood what he was doing. He then leant on her using her breast as a cushion and gently rested his arm over her stomach. She then held onto him and stroked his hair with her spare hand.

"We always used to lie like this, didn't we?" Rinoa sighed

"Its one of the things I missed most, we'd just spend all day like this and pretend the outside world didn't exist…"

"Right now to me it doesn't"

They stayed like that until the sun was fairly high in the sky,

"…umm…Rinoa…" he started going red "any chance you have a bathroom in here?"

She laughed and pointed to a door to her left,

"Through there,"

He stood up and left the room uncomfortably. When he returned Rinoa was trying to reach into her bed-side draw. She was grunted and at an awkward angle. He quickly ran over and made her sit comfortable,

"Easy, you shouldn't be moving like that,"

"Sorry, you know how well I follow rules," she grinned

"What did you want?"

"Open it and inside should be a key,"

He did so and produced the key.

"I want you to keep that…over the next few days there's no way I can get up. Come and stay the nights with me," she gave him a smile which he returned as he put the key in his pocket "Don't worry that's my spare…I'll still have one,"

He nodded and looked behind him at the sun.

"I think I better go back, it's almost breakfast time and if they see I'm missing we might get in trouble,"

Rinoa nodded trying not to let the disappointment show. He leaned forward and kissed her passionately on the lips.

"Is there anything you need before I leave?" he asked

"Umm…" Now it was her turn to go red "Could you…help me get to the bathroom?"

X-X-X

"Okay people this isn't good," Tifa had gathered everyone around a table "Leon's been missing for exactly twenty days now and we have no clues except that he followed a hooded figure through a portal,"

"We've had no word from Sora either," Aerith sighed "He's been travelling all over and says he hasn't seem him at all,"

"Well then why don't we go look for him," Cloud grunted leaning against the wall

"Because we wouldn't know where to begin…at least when Sora's travelling it doesn't go out of his way," Aerith rested on her hand as she stirred a spoon in her tea

Everyone heard the door open and immediately looked in high hopes. When Yuffie stood there everyone sighed and turned away,

"Gee thanks," She closed the door and shook her head "I've looked all over and no sign of him again. I even went as far as the Dark Depths"

She placed her hands on her hips and went over to Cid's computer. She started pounding in keys and brought up the video of when they saw Leon disappear.

"Yuffie, ge' off my compu'er!"

"Screw you!"

Everyone was shocked by her outburst.

"Yuffie, are you ok?" Aerith asked

The ninja stayed staring at the screen. Small sobs were heard and her body hic-up'd,

"I don't want to lose another one Aer, we lost too many already. Its not fair if he goes too," She wiped her eyes "So many off them are missing and…and-"

"Yuffie stop!" Tifa ran forward "Rewind the tape…now slow it…there! Freeze!"

The picture had stopped as the cloaked figure turned around and her back was shown. Two white wings similar to Leon's jackets were seen, glowing under the street light.

"You don't think that's…?"

The three girls looked at each other,

"Nah!"

X-X-X

"So…the only reason she refuses to talk to us is because she has markings?" the others had gathered around Leon asking him of his night before.

"Yeah, I don't know exactly but she thinks she's some kind of monster,"

"Do they look bad?" Ellone had curled herself into a ball like a child being told a bedtime story

"No, she's still beautiful. But she believes she's protecting us all by not interfacing," He sighed and stood from the bed "But she's still the same…nothing's really changed"

"Didn't she say she was like that because she was away from you?" Quistis was plaiting her hair, Leon nodded, "then surely with you seeing her every night they might disappear. When Edea was no longer possessed by Ultimecia went and back to Matron hers disappeared,"

"Yeah, exactly I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she's back to normal," Zell raised his fist in triumph

"I hope so…" Leon looked toward her room. He heard the main door go and Pebble and Isis came in with a bundle of medical equipment.

"…so it's true then?" Isis was having trouble holding the equipment

"Yes, apparently Sora returned to Radiant Garden just an hour or so ago. It turns out Angel wasn't the only one who got injured…"

Pebble pulled up the curtain and entered.

Leon was quiet. He wasn't sure how to feel about it all. Sora was his friend and Rinoa was his wife. Of course he'd pick Rinoa over anyone else any day but he didn't like the thought of his friends being hurt. Lucky for Sora, Leon knew Aerith could easily cure any wound.

All was quiet in the cell for a while until they heard a loud crash from Rinoa's room and Leon shoot off his bed instantly and ran to the bars. They heard her yell,

"_OWWWWWW!" _

"_Please, Miss, you have to stay still otherwise it will hurt even more"_

"_ARRGGHHH, what is that stuff?!" _

"_It's just a small herbal recipe to clean your wound"_

"_Clean it?! More like make it worse! Ouch!" _

Leon put a hand to his chest and tried to steady his breathing. He found it amazing how much he worried about her and how much he wants to protect her over even the smallest things.

"_Ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!! Get off of me!" _

"_We're almost finished-" _

Pebble's voice was cut off by a loud crash and suddenly she flew out of Rinoa's room and smacked into the wall. Isis followed quickly; a scratch oozing blood from her cheek.

"Pebble, are you alright?" Isis pulled her friend up and steadied her

"What-"

"I TOLD YOU TO GET OFF OF ME!"

Leon turned his gaze to the curtain where Rinoa was standing and he was shocked. She was only wearing her knickers and had a wrap around her bust. Her long hair was falling in front of her and she was standing slightly wearing. There was no bandage on her wound and where she had moved it started to pour blood. Her face was completely uncovered but this time it was different to how Leon had seen it the night before.

Her markings were a lot more vibrant and noticeable and her eyes shone completely gold. Her lip was snarled and Leon could see her canines were sharpened and longer. Behind her she bore a pair of wings but they were no longer the glistening white they used to be. They were almost completely black except for a small area at the top which still was the original colour. Her breathing was heavy and she was holding onto the wall whilst pushing the curtain aside.

"_Never_…disobey me again!"

The fear and shock in her maid's eyes said this was all new to them. Leon and the others were now along the bars next to each other looking as eye-widened as ever. Rinoa stumbled down a step and glared at her servants. She lost her balance and fell forward. Before she hit the floor though a dark portal appeared and a few heartless entered blocking her fall. They then gently rested her down on the floor as she'd past out with pain.

Everyone remained silent watching her. Slowly Isis left Pebble on her own and tip toed over to Rinoa. She turned her over and Leon saw her markings fade back to the way he saw them last night. Isis went into her pocket and pulled out a whistle, she blew it and after a couple of moments two male Zorics entered the chamber and carried the sorceress back into her bedroom; Isis following them. When the males returned they picked Pebble from the floor and took her away.

It was another ten to twenty minutes before Isis appeared. She looked slightly flustered and she had a small plaster on her cheek. As she was walking past Leon ran to the bar and grabbed her arm; making her yelp in shock.

"Is she alright?" he asked still not letting go

"She's resting, but now it might take longer for her to recover,"

"What happened to her?" Ellone walked over next to Leon

"I'm not…she's never…" Tears started forming in Isis's eyes "I'm sorry, it was all such a shock. One minute Pebble was dressing her wounds and next thing I know she was flying across the room. Miss Angel…she even through her lamp at me and then her face started to change and her eyes began to glow…I never knew she could be seen with such hatred. And she's never attacked us before…she…she…I'm sorry" Tears started streaking down her face. Leon loosened his grip and removed his hand. Like he predicted Isis ran away and out of the door; covering her face.

He spared no time at all burying his hand in his pocket and brining out the iron key. He ran over to the cell door but was pulled back by Zell and Irvine.

"No man, if you get caught you may never see her again," Zell was struggling against the knight's adrenaline

"I don't care…I need to know if she's alright,"

"What she needs right now is rest and…you know Rinoa…she won't want people seeing her like that…"

"Well sometimes…what she wants isn't always the best!"

And that was it; the small little comment that caused Zell, one of Squall Leonhart's best friends to snap. Using all the strength he could muster he pulled Leon away from the bars, and initially Irvine, and punched him right in the jaw. Leon fell to the floor with a thump and grabbed his jaw in pain. Looking at Zell he wasn't sure whether to be angry or upset.

"Don't ever think you're always right!" Zell pointed his finger right at Leon "Not ever!"

"Zell…" Quistis slowly walked over to him but he stepped away.

"I told her to wait in the infirmary and I promised her I'd be back. She thought it was be best to come with me but I knew it would be safer for her to hide. But they found her and I was too late. I arrived and…she was surrounded. They killed her…and I saw them steal her heart away…" He leant in his arms against the wall "…the heart that I loved more than my own…"

Leon got off the floor and put his hand on Zell's back but he shoved it off and faced him with tears in his eyes and his face full of anger,

"And all because I thought I was right! It made me lose her! But do what you want Squall…just don't come crying to me when you've lost the one you'd die for just because of a little mistake"

He pushed Leon away and stormed into the bathroom.

"He's right Squall,"

Leon turned to the sound of Irvine's voice.

"When Radiant Garden was being destroyed portals were lying everywhere, most of them opened by Cloud and Rin, but Maleficent had planted fake ones around to lure us into them. Selphie and I came across two. I said the left, she said the right. You know how she was, last thing I remember she was pulling her hand away from mine and telling me to follow her," For the first time in the weeks he'd been there, Leon noticed Irvine's right hand was always covered in a glove "I promised myself I wouldn't let another touch this hand until I was reunited with her. She was right; she went through the correct portal and ending up in a safe place…despite not being able to remember anything. I was about to follow her but it closed. So I took my chances and entered the left one, praying to Hyne I would end up in the same place as her. But it didn't, I ended up here. For three years I didn't know what had happened to her, at least Zell had the knowledge. You must know what it's like not knowing. Zell will never get Viola back. I doubt I'll ever manage to see Selphie again, but you, Squall; you have every opportunity in the world. But you just have to know which ones to take and which ones to pass; you might not get another chance…"

Irvine then walked over to his bed and, for another first Leon had seen, he pulled his beloved cow-boy hat from under the bed and put it over his face as he lied on his bed. Leon sighed and looked to the girls. They gave him a sympathetic look and with a small nod Leon walked over to his bed to wait for lights off, and another chance to see his wife.


	11. Chapter 11

**April 2nd**

For the last two weeks Leon had been in and out of Rinoa's room every other night. She took a while to face him but Leon reassured her that he didn't care. She explained then that whenever her body was in difficult situations or under a lot of pressure she would snap and lose control. Lucky for her he just stroked her hair and swore he would help her.

So now in one day he would have been there for a whole month. Strange for him to think it but he had to agree with himself when he thought it had been one of the best months he'd had in the last three years. And he was with the reason why. As he held onto Rinoa he could feel everything around them melt away. Her wounds had got better but she still wasn't completely healed. But now she could get up by herself and do her own things. Isis and Pebble still followed her loyally and she couldn't stop apologising to them.

"Rinoa?" She looked up at him with her amber eyes "I'm just wondering, how did you first notice your markings?"

"Well, it would have to have been about 2 and half years ago. It was when we first heard of the Key-Bearer's existence. I was sent to kill him before he mastered his powers. I went straight to his home, a place called Destiny Island. There I summoned a giant heartless to attack him for me. I watched as he fought with it and it destroyed the island. But right before my eyes he disappeared. I thought he was hiding somewhere so I ordered the heartless to destroy the island completely. Then I felt a trail and managed to follow him to Traverse Town. I…I saw you fight him Squall, and then I saw you and Yuffie take him to the hotel. I panicked and ran away. But as I ran I was forced to fight people against the heartless. Then at one point I stayed at a hotel and when I went to wash my face I saw them, I realised what they were straight away. Although no one could see them this much, over the months they got more and more noticeable. Then around a year ago I got into a massive fight with someone named Xigbar, I got so angry and then I lost control. I gave him a big scar on his cheek and messed his eye up pretty bad, but I still got hurt pretty…" She seemed to struggle as fatigue over took her. Leon kissed the top of her forehead,

"It's ok, I've heard enough,"

He heard Rinoa hum in reply. He laughed softly, deep in his throat,

"Tired?"

"Yeah, and its weird, I haven't been working like you all have,"

"You're still a bit wounded, so it makes sense"

"So…did the others see me?" she asked slightly concerned "You haven't told me as much as I'd like to know"

"Yes Rin, they did see you but they don't care, just like I don't. You've been their friend for about eight years now. Do you really think they'd stop caring about you because of what's on your face?"

"No, that wasn't it. I was worried if I still spoke to them and one of them got me angry then I'd…"

He finally understood. Now he knew why she was so scared. She didn't want to hurt the ones she loved and it were possible that the biggest threat to them would be her. She was protecting them, just not from what they assumed she was, she was the danger to them but she didn't want to be.

"How can I save you?" he sighed

"I don't think there is a way Squall; I've been like this for too long. I…I'm used to the darkness and it's now a part of who I am…"

X-X-X

Leon sat on the couch in front of the cell window. He stared up at the stars and moon. A blazing star shot through the sky. His mind teleported him to a happier time…

"_You're the best looking guy here"_ ….You were the best looking girl

"_Dance with me?"_ …I'll just embarrass you

"_Let me guess…you only dance with people you like?"_ …I like _you_

"_Okay then…"  
_

"_YOU-ARE-GOING-TO-LIKE-ME, YOU-ARE-GOING-TO-LIKE-ME!"_

"_Did it work?"_ …Yes

"_I can't dance"_ …I'll step on your extremely tiny feet

"_You'll be fine, Come on"_ …and I was, for the rest of my life

_I couldn't stop her entering my heart. When she left that night I regretted not running after her. But I was too scared; she wouldn't have wanted a guy like me in her life. But she did…at first I thought she was annoying, but in time my feelings changed. I'd lie awake at night wondering what it would be like to hold her, to kiss her. Of course I'd never let anyone know. I tried resisting my feelings but in the end they over took me and I knew I was in love. When she first told me she loved me I couldn't stop but say the same. And I'm glad that I gave her everything she wanted. But now…I don't know what to do… _

"Squall?" Irvine's voice cut his thoughts off. He hadn't expected to be disturbed as everyone was asleep

"Yeah?" he asked as Irvine sat down next to him

"In the next week the Orange moon will rise and Rinoa will have to give her powers to Maleficent," Irvine looked around him; spying for eavesdroppers "Rinoa still isn't fit enough to come out unscathed. If she agrees and goes through with it…she could die"

Leon stood up immediately,

"But surely Maleficent won't take them if she knows Rinoa could die, doesn't she need Rinoa to increase her powers?"

"I think that's the only reason she might not, but I don't know…" he stood up and started to walk to his bed but turned out again "If you want a chance to escape, during the ceremony is the best time. So we have to decide. Do we escape at the loss of one friend or do we stay here eventually killing us all?"

Leon watched him walk behind the curtain. He sat back down and looked back out of the window. There was no way he'd sacrifice Rinoa just to escape. But was there anything else he could do?

X-X-X

"One month! One whole bloody month!"

"We know Yuffie, but get off the table" Aerith tried shooing her down

"I don't see how you guys can just carry on! We should be out there looking for him!"

"We've looked everywhere and right now we have more important things. Sora's still hurt and we can't ask him to go look for anyone right now," Aerith was wiping Sora's face with a wet cloth

"I promise Yuffie; as soon as I can I'll look for him," he said

There was a knock at the door and Yuffie ran to open it. Her face dropped as Riku and Kairi entered.

"Oh it's just you two," she moaned walking back to the table

"Nice to see you too," Riku said raising an eyebrow. He walked over to Sora and punched him in the arm "How you feeling?"

"Worse since you walked in" Sora joked

"Is it still sore?" Kairi asked sitting at the end of his bed

"A little, but it's all closed up now. It just aches…but I can make it to the bathroom by myself!" he smiled cheekily

"More then I needed to know" the three girls said in unison

Sora sat up and rubbed his side.

"She didn't exactly go easy on me,"

"Ha! He got beat up by a girl!" Riku laughed

"Hey! You saw her; she just came out of nowhere and aimed for me! I would have got her…but I don't really like the thought of hitting girls…Maleficent being no exception,"  
"…or Ursula, or Larxene…" Riku counted off on his fingers

"And don't forget you didn't hesitate to hit me in the Hades Cup Tournament" Yuffie added

"Okay, okay I get it, but that was different!"

"How?" Everyone asked

"There was something about this girl, it's like I'd seen her before. And when I looked in her eyes, all I saw was sadness. She didn't want to hurt me and I could tell…"

"Awww" the girls once again said it in unison

Riku stepped forward and put his arm around Sora's neck giving him a noogie.

"You've gone soft over the years Sora!"

"Riku let go! You could open his wound again" Aerith shooed Riku away

"What did the girl look like?" Yuffie asked

"She wore a dark blue cloak…" Kairi started

"With wings on the back…" Riku added

"Just like Leon's…" Sora said

"And her hair was long and black…"

"With caramel streaks…"

"Down to her hip…!"

"She was quite petite…"

"And wore tight clothes…"

"And had really small feet…!"

"But on her face were these strange markings…"

"They looked like fire…"

"But they were blue!"

"And then her eyes were amber,"

"But then she got really mad…"

"And they completely glowed!"

"Oh and around her neck was a necklace with two rings on it," Kairi closed her eyes trying to think

"She fought with a katana" Riku scratched the back of his neck "Pretty fast fighter,"

"Yeah and she really knew how to use magic! I've never seen anything like it!" Sora finished "She said she was working for Maleficent and yet I've never seen her before"

Yuffie and Aerith looked at each other,

"A cloak with wings similar to Leon's…symbolised after Rinoa"

"Black hair with Caramel streaks but long; down to her hip"

"Petite frame…with very tiny feet"

"…and a necklace with two rings on it and good at magic…like a sorceress perhaps?"

"Aerith, you don't think…?"

For a moment the girls stayed staring at each other…

"Nah!"

X-X-X

"Rinoa, wake up," Leon was crouched by the bed and he gently shook Rinoa awake

"Huh? What?" she opened her eyes and looked at him "Squall? I thought you'd gone back,"

"I had but I need to talk to you urgently,"

Rinoa yawned and sat herself up. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and stretched slightly. She looked to the window where the sun had started to rise,

"Rinoa, when's the next orange moon?" She looked back to him

"Two days from now,"

"Are you going through with it?" he was now holding her hand tightly

"Well I will if Maleficent wants me to,"

"But…" He rested his head on their linked hands for a brief moment "Rinoa you're still weak, if you go through with it you could die,"

Rinoa looked taken aback by the statement; she once again looked to the window. Then she looked up to the ceiling as if she was thinking hard. Once a couple of minutes passed she turned back to face her knight.

"Squall listen very carefully, during the ceremony is the best time to escape. Everyone's in the main hall and they're focused more on looking after me and Maleficent. I will do the ceremony in two days and that's when you and the others are going to escape and get out of here,"

"But…what if…what will happen to you?"

"I'll take whatever happens and you need to too," she gave him a small smile.

"No…" he shook his head viciously "I only just found you again and now you want me to say goodbye! Wait a month please, refuse to do it and we'll think of something else!"

"Squall, I have to stay. There isn't a place for me in your world anymore. I'm not the same Rinoa and I never will be ag-"

"Shut up!" Leon stood up and tears gathered in his eyes "You are my world! Life isn't worth living without you in it! Why do you want me to live alone?! Do you even care that I've been miserable and depressed for the last three years?! Every damn night I re-lived the moment you were taken from me! You forced me to leave you then and you're not going to do it a second time!"

His sudden uproar shocked Rinoa senseless. She couldn't remember the last time he raised his voice at her. She didn't know whether it was the volume or the words that got to her but she started to feel tears streak down cheeks. In a blink of an eye she shot the covers back and leapt into his arms. He buried his head in her neck and gripped onto the end of his hair.

"I'm so sorry, Squall!" she wept "I didn't want to see you hurt all those years ago so all I could think about was getting you to safety. Squall, when I told you they were after me it wasn't a lie. They had known for a while I was a sorceress and wanted my powers. I knew when the attacks were due, I could just feel it. The day before my birthday I made you a photo album hoping it would bring you happiness if something ever happened. It was because of me that Balamb, Deling, Centra…our world got destroyed! And I knew that it would be my fault when they attacked Radiant Garden. And I knew they wouldn't stop until they had me…it was the only way"

Leon remained silent. His suspicions had been confirmed. She did know and he wished she'd told her.

"Please…" he begged "Don't leave me again"

Rinoa pulled away from the hug and looked into his blue eyes; she could see the love in them from many years ago.

"Never again…" she promised.

Leon couldn't control his silent tears any longer. They were streaking down his face as much as Rinoa's. He leant his head forward and pulled her lips to his. Then as their kiss got more passionate so did the fire in their bellies. Gracefully they collapsed on the beds; tongues still massaging each other. Leon started to pull the strap of Rinoa's nighty off but stopped when an icy voice spoke behind them,

"My, my,"

Leon pulled away from Rinoa and turned to the source of the voice. Maleficent stood glaring at the Knight; behind her Isis and Pebble stood, their heads hung low. The evil witch turned her head toward Rinoa who was still lying on the bed her eyes wide open with fear.

"Angel, I didn't expect this from you. I should have known you'd lead to treason sooner or later,"

"You can hardly call it treason when I was forced to do these things for you," Rinoa spat

"You believe so?" Maleficent picked up a crystal orb from the dressing table and eyed it "So tell me Angel, who gave you all these nice things?"

"You did," Rinoa murmured

"And who provides you and your friends with food and health?"

"You do"

"Yes, I do," she returned her gaze to Leon "And yet you go behind my back and plan my demise?!"

Rinoa shifted on the bed so she was on her knees.

"No, we didn't do anything like that!"

"Don't lie to me!"

Maleficent threw her arm forward and Rinoa was pulled into her hand. The witch held the young sorceress by her hair and shook her slightly. Leon started to run toward her but Maleficent raised her spare hand and he flew back as an invisible barrier was created. Isis and Pebble ran over to him and held both of his arms whilst Pebble also held a knife to his throat.

"You're a stupid girl Angel! You're not fit to own powers of such magnitude!" Maleficent turned her around so she was facing Leon. He saw the fear in her eyes and she looked at him in need of help but then he saw her breathing deepen and she seemed as if she was panting. She closed her eyes tightly and balled her fists. Her mouth twitched and she stretched it wide as her canines started to grow longer and shaper. Then in a flick of an eye she spread her fingers wide and her nails were also longer and had turned blue. The markings on her face and neck became more vibrant and started to pulse. She grunted as pain spread through her body and Maleficent couldn't hold onto her any longer. She fell forward onto her hands and knees as her wings grew from her back. Then she stood and lifted her head. When her eyes shot open they were glowing amber and she snarled wickedly.

She whipped her head toward Maleficent and flew towards her raising her hand into a claw. She sliced at the witch's face and kicked her in the stomach. Maleficent crashed into the dressing table behind her but threw Rinoa off her with ease. The sorceress slammed against the wall hard and landed on the floor with a thump. But she wouldn't give up so easily. Rising from the floor in a zombie-like fashion she trod forward. But just before she reached Maleficent she gripped onto her side in pain. She had once again opened her wound. Blood started oozing from the gash and stained her night gown.

"Rinoa!" Leon yelled trying to escape Isis and Pebble "Rinoa stop! You'll kill yourself!"

By the sound of his voice, Rinoa turned around and looked at him sadly. She lifted her arm in his direction but then she felt something hard hit her head and fell forward landing unconscious on the floor. Maleficent stood behind her holding her staff high. She wiped her bleeding brow and turned to the maids.

"Hold the ceremony tonight!" she ordered

"But Milady then Mistress Angel will die," Pebble exclaimed "She is too weak"

"Are you refusing an order?" Maleficent snarled

Pebble shook her head.

"What about him Milady?" Isis asked referring to Leon

"Put him back in the cell, I'll deal with him later," She turned toward the door, but then stopped and tilted her head back "Hmm, it seems after today the prince will never again be able to wake the Sleeping Beauty, for once I'm getting the happy ending!"


	12. Chapter 12

**April 3rd**

"Leon, what's happening?!" Ellone ran over to him as soon as he was pushed threw the cell doors.

He ignored her and immediately stood up and turned around. Isis and Pebble had just closed the doors and started to walk back to Rinoa's room. Leon shook the bars with all his strength and let out all his rage trying to open them.

"She's going to kill her!" he yelled not stopping

"Who?!" they asked together

Leon paused and sighed deeply. His head hung low. His hand was still gripped tightly around the cell bar.

"Maleficent's performing the ceremony tonight. Rinoa's going to die…and I can't do a fucking thing about it!" he once again let out his anger on the bars. He kicked it with his foot but after decided it had been a bad idea as a throbbing pain shot up his body. He roared and dropped to the floor; putting his head in his hands.

"…because I had to go and see her, I got her into the trouble I was trying to protect her from…"

Everyone was quiet…Irvine was the first to do something. He squatted next to Leon but still kept a small distance,

"Squall, listen to me. What did I tell you? During the ceremony is the best time to escape, we can-"

"NO! I'm not leaving Rinoa here by herself!"

"Let me finish!" Irvine shifted slightly "In the ceremony there's a part during it where both Rinoa and Maleficent are unconscious. It's just as the power is being transferred. If we can escape at that time, then we can grab Rinoa before she runs out of life and flee before Maleficent revives fully. We'll just need to find something to fight with and make sure we get there in time,"

"Irvine that's brilliant!" Ellone jumped up in the air

"I'm sure we could get some tools from the work site, its better then nothing," Quistis explained

"Well, my weapons are these fists of mine," Zell stated pumping his arm in the air "I'm sure I could hold anyone off until we get something to use"

"Yeah, come on Squall!" Irvine punched him lightly on the arm "Don't give up before you've tried"

Leon lifted his head to his friends standing above him. Zell gestured his hand forward. Slowly Leon placed his hand inside Zell's and pulled himself up. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the iron key,

"…I'm in" he nodded

Everyone cheered and hopped in the air.

"Okay people," Zell said "Here's what I think we should do…"

X-X-X

The sun had set fully and now the silver moon was rising high in the sky. The group were fidgeting doing double checks in their head. Some had collected some possessions they didn't want to leave behind. Leon stood near the cell door; not moving at all, focusing completely on the plan. He closed his eyes and he found his grip on the bar was growing tighter. Out of all of the fights he'd had in his life he found this to be the most important. This time he didn't have his Angel beside him, aiding him. This time it was all for her. To save her and return to the life they once had.

Suddenly a loud gong echoed through the castle. Leon's eyes shot open.

"It's time," He said quietly. He turned to see everyone waiting. He once again pulled out his key and opened the door. He stood for a couple of seconds before he stepped through but then stopped.

"This is it, guys," Zell exclaimed

"Now or never," Ellone agreed

"Remember what we're doing this for," Irvine remarked

"For all the years we've been trapped here," Quistis started

"For all the lives lost…" Zell added

"For all of the hard work!" Ellone hollered

"…For Rinoa," Leon whispered

Everyone nodded. Leon took a deep breath and continued walking forward. The others followed proud to once again be behind their leader. Leon reached the large metal door and pulled it open. The entrance facing a large window.

"That's our freedom…" he said softly

"Then that's where we heading!" Zell yelled and with one swift movement he pushed Leon through and the group started running down the hall towards the tool room…all that is…except for Quistis.

As expected the halls were empty where everyone was at the ceremony. They reached the tool room with ease and started rummaging for something they could use. Ellone picked up a steel pipe, luckily light enough for her to use. Irvine found a large spanner. Not what he was used to but it would have to do. Leon looked around for something he could substitute his gunblade with. It was during this time he noticed Quistis's absence.

"Where's Quistis?!" He yelled

Everyone looked around them frantically. Just as Leon was about to head back she appeared at the tool room door carrying his gunblade

"My…my gunblade?" Leon stuttered amazed

"When you first arrived I saw Rinoa smuggle it into her room. I thought it would come in handy"

"Thanks Quisty"

The two exchanged a smile.

"Right I guess I need to find me a weapon now,"

She started to look until Zell came up behind her and passed her a pieced of rope attached to a small pipe. He smiled cheekily.

"Ugh, no thanks" Quistis started searching through the tools and found a chain and ice pick and using another, smaller chain managed to fasten them together.

"I have no idea how long it will hold. But its better than nothing"

Leon nodded and led the group out of the room and toward the main hall.

X-X-X

Rinoa was lying unconscious on a stone slab, she was usually awake at this time, but due to the circumstances she had been kept asleep. She had been changed into the long, black gown and she had some form of head gear on around her forehead. Maleficent was sitting on her thrown; the same one in which Leon had first seen her. Some subordinates were running around planning things. Many looked worried and knew now; this was the end for Rinoa. Leon was hiding with the others behind pillars and plants, watching silently. Leon wanted nothing more than to go and grab her. But he knew this had to be done delicately and at the precise moment. He gripped the hilt of his gunblade and steadied his nerves.

Eventually a gong was hit and the whole hall stopped moving, and Maleficent began to rise. She stepped forward and smirked. Her pet crow circled above her and then settled on the top of her thrown. Maleficent walked all the way to Rinoa and skimmed her cheek with her nail. She then laughed and turned to the Zorics.

"Well, my family, today I will be receiving the last outburst of power. Now, I must let you know this is not my decision. But having Angel here, would merely be a threat to us. She fraternised with outsiders and planned to have your Queen killed" She walked a few paces away from Rinoa and stood in the middle of a chalk-drawn circle on the floor. "She's a danger. So despite your protests, remember _she_ is the evil one and would just hurt us if she were to stay!"

Zorics looked at one another, and all of their eyes said the same thing. None of them wanted their Angel to die. But they didn't have a choice.

Maleficent smirked and was ready to take in the power. She spread her arms wide and smiled. Two Zorics walked forward to where Rinoa was and each held a dagger. They lifted them high into the air; above Rinoa's flesh. Leon jolted forward ready to defend her, but Irvine and Zell pulled him back.

"No!" Irvine hissed "Don't worry!"

Leon looked forward and then saw. The Zorics had cut their left hands; a long, deep slit down the palm. Blood dripped onto Rinoa's flesh. They gripped each others hands tightly and the blood oozed out and then, repositioning their hands, it dripped into her forehead where the head gear was, then the small crystal, Leon thought was decoration, began to glow.

The Zorics jumped back and kneeled on the floor either side of her. Rinoa's body started to glow. Once again the features of an evil sorceress shone through. Her nails dug into her own hands and the wings from her back were now almost completely black, save for the whitish, silver tips.

She was then lifted vertically and she spun slowly towards Maleficent, who was smirking from ear to ear. In synchronisation their hands went up to their chests and they cupped together over their hearts. Maleficent's eyes glowed bright green, as Rinoa's glowed amber, then their heads flopped and their arms flew back. From Rinoa orbs of grey light flew from her and headed towards Maleficent; landing on her one by one.

Irvine nodded and sprung forward.

"NOW!"

Leon and the others jumped out from behind the pillar and ran forward; their weapons in hand. Heartless and Zorics ran to stop them but Leon flew up and sliced anyone who got in his way. The others fought of as best they could with the equipment they had. Leon used this chance to run towards where Rinoa was floating. He jumped on the stone slab, but as he was about to grab Rinoa from mid-air, a large Zoric flew at his body and knocked him to the ground. Leon skidded across the floor and then dug his gunblade into the ground making him stop. He stood up and pulled his weapon out and aimed it at his enemy. He didn't have much time and needed to get to Rinoa soon. The Zoric flew towards him again and tried to slash at him with a small dagger. Leon back stepped and rolled to the side, dodging most attacks; except for a few slicing him in various places. At one point he became pinned to the ground; the Zoric about to slice at this throat. But then Rinoa caught his eyes. She was slowly floating down, her power still going into Maleficent. His love for Rinoa gave him the strength he needed. He pushed the Zoric off him and then sliced him across the chest with his gunblade. Blood started gushing from the Zoric's chest and he fell to the ground, unable to move anymore. Leon then used every muscle in his body and ran as fast as he could to Rinoa. Her body had begun twitching as she became weaker and weaker. He wasn't sure how to stop her from giving her power away. He grabbed her foot from the air and pulled her down. Using his body as an anchor; he then pulled her close him by her hand and gripped onto her tightly. He could feel the energy pass through him and to maleficent. It drained him slightly but that still didn't stop him. She tried shaking her away, but nothing could wake her.

"RINOA COME ON!" he yelled; still shaking her "I need you!"

Rinoa's eyes shot open, she looked and acted more animal than human. She dug her claws into Leon's arms and hissed violently; trying to escape. He winced but took the pain. He squinted his eyes shut and looked at her. And that's when he saw it…the gem on her forehead was cover by the blood from the Zorics. And then it would travel along the headband and around her markings. The zoric's blood was the reason she was like this and only he could free her.

He could feel her grip getting tighter as the blood began running thin; showing the ending of her life. He looked into her amber eyes and saw tears gathering, and soon they started to fall down her cheeks. And that's when he realised. She wasn't gripping onto him because she was a monster….no; it was because she was scared. Leon didn't waste any time, he managed to pull one arm away and then he ripped off the headband. As he pulled it away, red, blood like energy travelled through her veins and seeped through her skull and into his hand. He through down the band and Rinoa started to jolt frantically. Her energy was going haywire and her body was losing control. Her nails were growing longer then the claws they already were, and still they were digging into Leon's arms. He groaned in pain and clenched his eyes shut. Then something clicked in his brain,

"_I remember reading fairytales as a girl," Rinoa picked up a book and held it close "My mum used to read them to me before she died. She promised me…that no matter the problem, as long as my true love kissed me…it would all go away. Just like the princess in my story book…"_

Leon shot his eyes open and looked at Rinoa's face. Its look was of pure fright and tears streamed down her face. He then wasted no time, and pulled her close and kissed her. He put all of his feelings, the love he felt for her, the way he'd missed her so, and the hope for their future into this kiss.

"_It's just a fairytale ending, Rinoa. I doubt a kiss can do anything. Truth be told, there really are no endings…until death comes along. And no one can control the time someone's meant to go" Squall lifted the book and flicked through it. _

_Rinoa snatched it from his hands. _

"_Squall Leonhart! Are you trying to dash my hopes and dreams of finding my prince?!"_

"_Well…" Squall stood up and grabbed Rinoa, holding her close, "As far as I'm aware…you already found your knight in shining armour"_

"_Haha, more like shining leather!" _

_Squall rolled his eyes and then pulled Rinoa closer…_

But how he was wrong, a kiss could do everything. Rinoa pushed away from him and held onto her chest as a terrible pain shot through her. She was taken into the air. And a loud piercing scream echoed through the hall; causing everyone to stop their battles.

Rinoa was glowing pure white. Her wings were stretching as far as they could go and her arms were stretching with them. Her head was thrust back. The glowing light circled her and twisted around her body. Leon looked over to Maleficent who had now been cut off from the power flow and had been pushed back and was drained of power. He had been pushed to the ground also and he was frozen as he looked up at her watching her once again, transform. But this time, it was oh so completely different.

Rinoa's nails were shrinking back into normal length and the blood on her skin from the Zorics was disappearing all together. Her face no longer had the dark markings on it and her teeth were shrinking back. She held onto her rings as a pain shot up her back, making her arch. Her wings started spreading even wider and lifted themselves up; which was hurting her the most. From the bottom the black feathers had started shredding themselves off the wings and fell around her into the air. Underneath the black feathers, her original white ones returned. Maleficent jumped from the floor and ran towards her about to cast a powerful spell with her staff, despite how exhausted she was. Then Rinoa began glowing brighter and brighter and Leon needed to shield his eyes, and the whole room was caught in her energy. He heard a thump on the floor and a spine crawling scream and when he opened them, he saw Rinoa crouched on the floor, and in front of her was Maleficent, unconscious against her thrown. Leon got up and walked forward slowly; Quistis and the rest had appeared behind him.

"…Rinoa…?"

She slowly got up, and stiffly turned to look at him, her eyes were now glowing white. She smiled to Leon and extended her hand forward, and as soon as she grabbed it the holy energy disappeared and Rinoa collapsed into his arms.

"RINOA!"

"Squall! Don't worry! She's just tired! Let's get out of here before we lose our chance!" Quistis picked up his gunblade and gestured to the door.

Squall nodded and along with the others started to run, but when they reached the exit of the main hall the castle began to shake.

"What's going on?!" Ellone screamed

"Without Rinoa AND Maleficent's power keeping this place together it's collapsing!" Zell yelled

Everyone looked at each for just a split second and then started to run further into the castle to the exit. They had to dodge boulders and bricks. Chandeliers and ladders left carelessly to one side. Soon, the ground was shaking so much; it was hard to keep balance. Leon carried Rinoa tightly and led the way finding the exit. Quistis was having trouble with his gunblade because of its weight and was at the tail end of the group. She had been keeping up until she tripped on a fallen brick and landed with a heap on the floor. The castle started shaking even more and from the ceiling above her a large boulder came hurtling to the ground and caused an avalanche of rocks, small boulders and bricks to fall onto Quistis, she pushed the ones off her head but her legs were stuck and she couldn't move. Zell turned and saw and ran back to help her.

"No! Zell just go! I'll get out of here soon! But _you_ need to leave!"

"No, Quistis! I can't lose another friend because of my own selfishness I'm getting you outta here!" Zell then shouted to the others who had stopped too "Just go! We'll get outta here okay!"

Leon looked to the others and then nodded and ran further towards the exit. Boulders of all sizes came crashing down. He never knew there could be such a wreck. When they found the main exit they crashed through it and were glad to see the outside. But they still needed to get off the small island in the centre of the canyon. They reached the edge and looked for a solution. Suddenly they heard a crash and behind them the west tower had fallen and crushed the door.

"ZELL! QUISTIS!"

They couldn't hear anything from inside. Leon cursed himself, now all he could do was focus on the others. He turned a few times and then by sheer luck he found a long pathway to the ground. He led the way and after running for over a mile they arrived at Crystal Cave.

He was still holding onto Rinoa when he fell back against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Do you think we're safe?"

Irvine looked around and nodded. Ellone looked back towards the castle. From what she could see, it was now just a big pile of rubble.

"I guess no matter what…we're always going to lose someone huh?"

"You never know Elle. They could have gotten out" Irvine put his arm around her shoulder hoping himself, he was right.

Leon looked at Rinoa in his arms. He used his teeth to pull off his glove and then brushed his fingers against her face. She fluttered her eyes open softly and smiled. Too weak to say a word, but Leon could tell how happy she was. For as soon as she saw that they were out of the castle…tears fell down her cheeks once more. Leon pulled her closer and held her tightly. He could feel her hand softly grip onto his sleeve. He kissed her forehead and lifted her up again. He looked over to the castle and sighed. If Irvine was wrong…then he would forever pay loyalties to his deceased friends.

"Guys...?" He turned to Irvine and Ellone; "Let's go home…"


	13. Chapter 13

**April 4****th**** – Early Morning**

"Well, I think I'm more or less healed" Sora stretched on the spot "Thanks Aerith"

"No problem Sora, just be careful"

"Dooley noted!" He saluted

Aerith sighed with a smile on her face and started to put away some things in Merlin's house. When she was satisfied she grabbed her satchel and headed to the door.

"I need to go and sort out some things, Sora, come find me in the courtyard and I'll give you the potions you need" She headed to the door and went to the shopping district. She grabbed her silver pen and went over to the Missing and Deceased wall. She double checked she had everyone written down and then she heard a commotion at the top of the stairs.

Aerith gasped and dropped the pen for standing at the top of the stairs, were a very exhausted looking bunch of people. Leon, Irvine, Ellone, and Rinoa, whose energy had returned to her slightly, shuffled forward and down the stairs toward Aerith.

"Leon!" She ran forward and hugged him. She let go and looked at the others, when she realised who they were she screamed and held them.

"What's all this noise?" Cloud and Tifa walked down the stairs, Tifa froze when she saw them and Cloud smirked and leant against the wall.

"Well…I should of known Leonhart, only you'd cause this much fuss. Welcome back…" Cloud was happy; he just wasn't one to show it.

Tifa was still frozen on the spot. But unlike Aerith when she ran, she didn't run to Leon she ran straight to Rinoa and held her tightly, despite the groans.

"RINOA! You're all safe after all the years!"

Tifa held onto Rinoa and spun around jumping slightly. Leon tried to intervene but thought best not, as his experiences with Tifa had ever been great. He folded his arms and tried to ignore his fatigue. Rinoa seemed shocked out of her skeleton by Tifa but returned her friend's hug all the same. When Tifa let go, Rinoa timidly went over and gripped onto Leon's arm. He shifted and put his arm around her. He was about to whisper something when suddenly he felt himself being attacked from behind. He spun quickly just to see a lively ninja on his shoulder holding onto him tightly.

"Yu….Yuffie…can't….breath!"

Rinoa started giggling and then it wasn't long before Yuffie had her in a death grip.

"Hey don't I get anything?" Irvine stretched his arms slightly until he was ambushed by everyone.

Rinoa looked around with a puzzled look, she tugged Leon's sleeve "Squall…Where's Quistis and Zell?"

The others looked around and agreed with her puzzlement and Leon just sighed but then gave a small, unsure smile.

"They…they're still on their way…" Everyone knew he was lying but no one chose to deny it "Now if you all don't mind, I think we all should have some rest and-"

"You!" They all turned to see Sora bearing his keyblade and heading toward Rinoa "Just because you took off all that make up doesn't mean I wouldn't recognise you!"

Leon calmly stepped in between them and folded his arms. Sora stopped looking slightly sheepish and Leon examined the boy's dressed wound. He leant back slightly to Rinoa.

"Nice work," He smirked

"Hey!" Donald tapped his foot "What's going on?!"

"It's a very long story…" Leon shrugged "We'll tell you all about it later"

X-X-X

Rinoa was sitting on Leon's bed. She was looking around the small hotel room and twiddled her thumbs slightly. Leon had told her to rest and wait there; although he was a tad reluctant to leave her so soon, there was something he needed to take care of. She had changed into one of his shirts and found a pair of boxers she used as shorts to change into. She had currently been waiting the good part of seven hours but luckily had slept most of it off. She stiffly stood and headed for the bathroom to wash up, but she stumbled slightly as she saw smashed pieces of glass near the entrance. She crouched down and saw the bottom of a glass underneath a cabinet. She crouched to try and get it but found herself straining too much.

"I guess we should have cleared that up"

Rinoa turned quickly to see Aerith standing at the door. She stood and smiled at her old friend.

"I…um…I wanted to give this to you" Aerith was clutching a small picture frame and grinned "Just last month Leon threw it back to me…he didn't want to be reminded. But I guess you changed all that" She stretched her hand out with the picture. Rinoa took it and sat on the end off the bed. She looked at the picture and began to giggle. It was of her and Leon on their wedding day, he had decided it would be funny to give her a piggy back ride although she was wearing a puffy wedding gown. After they saw it they had declared it their all time favourite picture.

"Thanks…" She held it close to her but her smile faded "I…Can I ask you something?"

"Of course" Aerith sat on the bed next to her

"Is…Is it normal to feel…well…I guess that's just it…I don't know how to feel. It's like I've been away for so long…that, I'm not sure how to live my life now"

Aerith put an arm around her friend

"Rinoa…there are going to be parts of you that are going to miss your life there. Nothing can change how you feel…or…It's hard to explain…things will make themselves clear soon enough and you know we'll help you and Leon will and-"

"It's funny hearing him being called Leon…" She laughed

"Well, maybe he'll become Squall once again now that you're here"

"Maybe I will" They turned to see him leaning in the door frame. His wasn't wearing his jacket and his shirt was covered in filth. There was dirt on his cheeks and a stained handkerchief falling out of his pocket "Aerith…" He nudged his head to the door behind him. She nodded and cheekily left the room.

"What's going on?" Rinoa stood, still holding the picture and headed toward him. Leon peeked at the picture and smirked. "Good idea" grabbing her he managed to softly throw her onto his back.

"Squall! What're you doing?!" She clung onto him with her free hand "You're filthy!"

"Whatever" He turned his head back smirking "Just hold on…got the picture still?"

"Uh…yes…"

"Great! Let's go!" He headed out of the room and down the hotel corridor

"This is really unlike you" Rinoa let out a snorty laugh

"Eh...too tired to be anyone else right now"

"Just tell me where we're going"

"Nope…it's a surprise…"

X-X-X

Rinoa could hear people's murmurs and began to feel slightly embarrassed by her ensemble. As they reached Merlin's house he had her dismount and covered her eyes letting her walk ahead of him. Her bare feet touched the warm pavement and she had to use Leon as a guide. After walking up some steps, he told her to wait with her eyes closed. He walked away and she heard a soft click and the sound of a rusty door open. He guided her forward a few steps.

"Okay…Open your eyes, Mrs Leonhart…and welcome home"

Her eyes fluttered open and her breath was taken. She stepped forward again as she saw her old home…exactly the way she remembered. She looked at every corner and every wall. Pictures hung on hooks with glistening frames and soft curtains fluttered over sparkling windows. The rugs were soft and clean on her toes and the fresh smell of flowers and air freshener cleared her senses. The place was so refreshing and the soft wind blew her hair and finally she knew how to feel. She was free and able to do anything she wanted. She turned and hugged Leon and snuggled into his chest.

"Am I to believe you did this all by yourself?"

"You better not otherwise I'll never do him a favour again" Rinoa turned to see Cloud wiping his hands on a cloth

"Thanks, Cloud…I didn't know you were a handy man"

"There's a lot you don't know about me" He shrugged

"We _all _helped" Yuffie and the others were waiting outside.

"But it's not finished yet…" Leon looked at her and pointed over to a shelf where the picture in her hand used to reside "It's the last piece to be replaced"

Rinoa looked down at the picture and then with an extra wipe of the glass she placed in on the shelf. The she went outside toward her friends and saw all of Radiant Garden waiting in courtyard. They waved at her and said hellos and welcome backs to all four who returned recently.

It was strange…Rinoa felt. It was true that she tried to make as many friends as possible before she left but she didn't think her homecoming would be this important. Of course the majority of the ladies there were perhaps pleased to see Irvine. A microphone had been placed and Leon stood in front of it, clearing his throat. Rinoa began to feel somewhat trapped. She had spent the best part of three years isolated and suddenly there were a crowd of people glad to see her, and shake her hand. She became overwhelmed and began walking backwards a little...until Leon started to speak

"Restoring a whole world is probably one of the hardest things to do but there's no such thing as _restoring _someone you've lost…" He looked over to his friends and Rinoa "Through the years we've gone through the worst of the worst, and for some of us those, _mistakes_ can't be fixed. But every so often, there's a burst of luck that comes rarely, but when it does, it gives us the motivation we need to carry on" The crowd nodded and agreed along side him "This last month has been…unique for me but nothing can compare to the last few years that three of my friends…sorry, _five_ of my friends have gone through…we perhaps didn't all succeed in the things we wanted to, but now our goals have changed and we will…" his voice trailed off as he spotted a couple limping passed the ice cream shop. With Quistis' arm around his shoulder, Zell came along the path supporting her. He sent a quick smile toward Leon and everyone turned and began cheering as loudly as they could. They both sat with a shlump on the wall nearby and waved with a lack of energy. Leon shook his head "Well…uh…I can't really remember what I was going to say, but I guess those guys proved my point" The crowd laughed and cheered and soon a celebration broke out and songs played and children danced. As Leon went over to aid Zell and Quistis, Rinoa sat on the wall just outside her front door, she looked up at Irvine who was staring off into space.

"You okay, Irvy?" She asked as sympathetically as she could

"Some may look at us and say the groups back together but it-"

"It's not…" She stood and shyly patted him on the back, she had yet to get used to touch "To others it may seem we're all here, but we know that there's still one member of our group we need to get and that's all that counts. As long as we don't forget about her, one day we'll bring her home"

"Home? Huh?"

"Yeah…home"

"Where is home Rinoa?"

She paused thoughtfully, the answer she should have said was "here" but her lips decided against it.

"I don't know" She was glad the others had chosen to go about there own business and leave them to talk "Where do you want home to be, Irvine?"

"It doesn't matter…as long as Selphie's there"

Rinoa smirked and nudged him slightly.

"Nice bit of cheese there"

Irvine shook his head with the teeniest grin and then began nodding.

"Nice to be free eh?" He sighed "Nice to be free"

"Irvine," She made him face her "We'll get her back"

He patted her shoulder and then made his way over to Zell and Quistis without another word.

In his head Leon couldn't be more overjoyed but as he looked at Rinoa sitting on the wall staring toward the crumbled remains of the castle he couldn't help but still live in fear. He placed his hand on his holster and agreed that whenever he could he would train and become stronger, if there ever was a next time something bad happened, there would be no excuse.

"Squall…"

He turned to see Irvine readjusting his hat.

"How does the keybearer travel from world to world?"

Leon just smiled and pointed over to Cid.

"You'll have to talk to him on that one"

But then Leon's attention turned to his wife, he excused himself and took a place on the wall next to her.

"Part of me feels stupid" He said whilst stroking his hair awkwardly

"Now, now Squall, surely that's normal, right?"

He rolled his eyes and tapped her softly

"I just wish I was smart enough to have checked the castle, I could have saved myself a lot of solitary confinement"

She couldn't help but disagree slightly in her head as she was glad she had experienced what she'd been through but she agreed to never reveal it to him. She leant forward and stroked his cheek and the pair shared a moment's kiss. Without caring who was looking he held her tightly in her arms and he knew in that moment that that was the day Leon disappeared forever and he was once again…Squall Leonhart.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Author's Comments:**

Well, there we have it, the last chapter. Wanna know a secret? I started this over a year ago, now that I think about it even two and I didn't want to upload it until I had finished. I'd got to the first paragraph of this chapter and thought "I might as well upload what I have" (bar three chapters) and I'm glad I did. Thank you to those who have reviewed currently as it really gave me the motivation to carry on.

I don't know if my not-so-subtle hint worked but I had planned on making this a trilogy and still want to do so. The next one I hope to do ASAP is based around Irvine and Selphie and then the next will be about Zell (can't wait for that one). I think it's nice to see boys being all emotional don't you? So I hope you enjoyed this. I did want this last chapter to come out a bit better but I'm glad I've finally finished what I started. Watch this space for the next two fanfics in the Series! **P.S.** I do apologise for the mistakes I've made in both grammar and spelling and the occasional mini plot hole. I'm gonna try and fix them as soon as I can ^w^ thanks again for reading! BabemRoze x


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